PROVIDENCE – American Foam Corp. has filed a tentative $6.3 million settlement with victims and survivors of the 2003 fire at The Station in West Warwick.
The Johnston company sold to club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian the egg-crate-style polyurethane foam they installed as soundproofing at their nightclub. That foam is blamed for accelerating the blaze that killed 100 people and injured many more.
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At their trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, the Derderians testified that they never knew the foam was flammable.
Barry Warner – an American Foam salesman who reportedly suggested the Derderians buy soundproofing foam – testified that he never said the foam was flammable, but the Derderians never asked, the Insurance Journal said in its report today. American Foam’s former president, the late Aram DerManouelian, told the court that his company provided technical data only at customers’ request.
American Foam would pay $1.3 million of the settlement, and its insurance company the other $5 million, the Insurance Journal said. The settlement would cover both Warner and the estate of DerManouelian, as well as the company itself.
The company’s offer, filed last week in U.S. District Court, Providence, still must be approved by plaintiffs and the court, which has named a consultant to determine how to divide settlement funds. It follows a May filing by four makers of soundproofing foam – Leggett & Platt Inc., William T. Burnett & Co., General Foam Corp. and FFNC Corp. – who have offered $30 million to Station fire victims and survivors. (READ MORE)
Total settlement offers in the case now stand at about $153 million. Negotiations are still ongoing between victims’ lawyers and the last few defendants, who include the Town of West Warwick and the State of Rhode Island.
American Foam did not respond to Providence Business News’ requests for comment.
American Foam Corp., based in an 80,000-square-foot facility in Johnston, is a designer and manufacturer of specialty foams and protective and decorative specialty packaging, including custom inserts featuring its “Sim-U-Vel” surface treatment. Additional information is available at www.AmericanFoam.com.
For more information about The Station fire case and the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, visit www.rid.uscourts.gov.
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