Tentative deal in Station fire case
Plaintiffs would split $13.5m
Lawyers for more than 300 people killed or injured in the 2003 Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island have tentatively settled civil lawsuits for $13.5 million, but the defendants with the deepest pockets are not part of the potential agreements, according to documents filed in federal court.
Eight law firms representing almost all the victims of the deadliest fire in Rhode Island history have reached agreements in principle with a manufacturer and a vendor of pyrotechnics, a foam insulation maker, an alarm company, and a real estate company that leased the West Warwick roadhouse to club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian.
The $13.5 million represents the maximum payments in the defendants' insurance policies, said Eva-Marie Mancuso, a Providence lawyer with nine clients who were injured or lost relatives in the fire that trapped concertgoers.
The plaintiffs disclosed the tentative agreement in a request filed Friday in US District Court in Rhode Island for the appointment of a special master to help distribute funds from settlements. The proposed master, Francis E. McGovern, is a law professor at Duke University and a specialist in conflict resolution who helped organize the distribution of $2.4 billion compensating 100,000 women who sued the maker of the Dalkon Shield contraceptive intrauterine device.
If approved by a judge, the Station settlements would be the first of what lawyers for the fire's victims hope will be several agreements with scores of defendants stemming from the Feb. 20, 2003, blaze, which killed 100 people, including 33 from Massachusetts, and in jured more than 200. The fire, which began as pyrotechnics were set off inside the club during a performance by the band Great White, was the fourth deadliest in US history.
"This is the absolute preliminary beginning of the process," Mancuso said. "It's by no means full restitution."
The tentative agreements represent only a fraction of the groups and individuals sued after the fire. Absent are two defendants with the biggest bank accounts - Anheuser-Busch Inc., which sold beer at the concert, and
Andrew Horwitz, a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, R.I., said it is unclear how much more the plaintiffs would receive from some of the remaining defendants whose liability for the fire may be more difficult to prove. The current agreements could represent the bulk of the settlement, he said.
"It's a real possibility that these are the defendants that felt most at risk, that they have banded together to resolve the case without a trial, and that the case against the remaining defendants may not be strong enough or lucrative enough [for plaintiffs] to justify a trial," he said.
The companies that reached tentative agreements included Luna Tech Inc., an Alabama firm that manufactured the pyrotechnics; High Tech Special Effects, a Tennessee company that supplied the pyrotechnics; Triton Realty Limited Partnership, which leased the building to the Derderians; Celotex Corp., an insulation business; and New England Custom Alarms.
James T. Murphy, a Providence lawyer who represents Triton, said two of the principals in the company, Raymond Villanova and his daughter, Mary Jo Carolan, went to the club as soon as they got word of the fire, and were horrified to see the carnage.
"It was emotionally traumatizing to them to know that these people died on their property," Murphy said.
Amanda McLean, one of the owners of Luna Tech, said she was aware that her insurance company was in settlement talks but had no details. "I do think the whole thing is a terrible tragedy, and my heart goes out to those families," McLean said.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com. 