Update:

I found in the forum section "connection problems" that a user with the same error code had erased his limewire 1.6d and reinstalled and the problem was corrected.
I tried the same thing initially just using the uninstall in the limewire folder. No result.
Then I used sherlock to search for any "lime" and trashed all limewire apps, aliases, etc until a "limewire" search of my hard drive came up empty. I then downloaded the limewire app again, and reinstalled. This corrected the problem.
I hope this helps anyone with the same difficulty.

I'd been using lw for weeks with no problems before I got the "Fatal Application Error" message concerning a Java problem. Can anyone enlighten me on how it could suddenly arise?