PROVIDENCE – Four makers of foam used as soundproofing have filed a tentative $30 million settlement with victims and survivors of The Station nightclub fire.
The settlement offer was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, Providence, by defendants Leggett & Platt Inc., William T. Burnett & Co., General Foam Corp. and FFNC Corp. It still must be approved by the court.
“We’re still some time off in actual resolution of this case, but certainly this is another step,” Steven Minicucci, a lawyer for more than a dozen of the roughly 300 plaintiffs in the case, told Reuters. More than two dozen defendants remain, including the State of Rhode Island and beer brewer Anheuser Busch Inc., he said.
The fire that swept through the West Warwick nightclub on Feb. 20, 2003, killed 100 people and injured more than 200. It began when fireworks set off by Daniel Biechele, tour manager for the rock band Great White, ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the club’s interior walls. The blaze spread so quickly, many were unable to escape.
Biechele pleaded guilty in February 2007 to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter; he was sentenced to four years in prison and three years’ probation.
Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian have said they bought and installed the foam not knowing it was flammable. The brothers reached a plea agreement with prosecutors last fall that resulted in a four-year sentence for Michael Derderian – the same as for Biechele – and a suspended sentence for Jeffrey Derderian. (READ MORE)
The foammakers’ offer matches the previous largest civil settlement in the case: The early February offer by WPRI-TV Channel 12, parent company parent company, LIN TV Corp. (NYSE: TVL) and cameraman Brian Butler. (READ MORE) Local radio station 94 WHJY-FM and parent company Clear Channel Communications Inc. (NYSE: CCU) reached a tentative $22 million settlement later that month. (READ MORE)
For more information about the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island and its decisions, visit www.rid.uscourts.gov.
