PROVIDENCE -- Almost 50 lawyers, many of them from out of state, packed
into the courtroom of Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux
today for a hearing to determine where civil lawsuits stemming from The
Station nightclub fire will be decided.
The standing-room-only crowd who came to hear the arguments on the
jurisdictional question represented a who's who of the Rhode Island
trial bar and a bevy of well-known trial lawyers from throughout the
United States.
Most of the out-of-state lawyers were representing parties who have been
sued in connection with the Feb. 20 fire in West Warwick, in which 100
people died and more than 200 were injured. The fire broke out after the
rock band Great White set off pyrotechnics, which ignited highly
flammable packing foam that the owners of The Station had installed as
soundproofing.
Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis, Mo. beer manufacturer which has been sued
for allegedly being a sponsor of the concert, had five lawyers at the
hearing; Clear Channel Communications, another defendant in the
lawsuits, had four lawyers representing its interests. Three lawyers
were there representing Jack Russell, the lead singer for Great White.
But after hearing two hours of arguments from five lawyers -- two who
favor transfer to the Rhode Island Superior Court and three who want the
federal court to retain jurisdiction -- Lagueux announced that he and
his law clerks would do more legal research before he rendered a
decision. He said he would issue a written decision on the matter at a
later date.
Lagueux must determine whether all of the civil lawsuits brought on
behalf of the fire victims and their families should be heard in U.S.
District Court in Providence, or whether the fire was essentially a
local tragedy and the cases heard by a judge in the state Superior Court.
The key issues that Lagueux said he must tackle to decide the case are:
-- Whether a ``substantial majority'' of The Station fire plaintiffs and
the ``primary defendants'' who are being sued are from Rhode Island,
which would make the Superior Court the appropriate venue for the trial
of the cases.
-- What Congress intended when it enacted a new law which took effect
just 18 days before the nightclub fire which makes it easier for
plaintiffs or defendants to have the federal court hear lawsuits that
stem from ``accidents'' that cause at least 75 deaths.
The Providence Journal has confirmed the identities of 430 people who
were at The Station when the fire broke out. Of the 100 who died, 59
were Rhode Islanders; 33 were from Massachusetts; 5 were from
Connecticut; 2 from California and one from Florida.
Of the 330 survivors, 208 are Rhode Islanders; 76 from Massachusetts; 12
from Connecticut; 3 from Washington; 3 from California; 2 from New York;
2 from Louisiana; 1 from Ohio; 1 from Nevada; 1 from Maine; and 21 whose
residences are unknown.
Historically, such cases would have been heard by a state court.
But jurisdiction has been muddied by the newly enacted federal law. The
Station fire is likely to be the first test of the new law, and Lagueux
is being asked to interpret what Congress intended when it approved the
legislation.
Under the new federal law, if an ``accident'' causes at least 75 deaths,
one victim is from a state different from where the accident occurred,
``any two defendants reside in different states'' and any adverse
parties are from different states, the federal court may hear the matter.
Currently, only seven lawsuits have been filed in connection with the
fire. All except two currently reside in U.S. District Court in
Providence.
The two others are in federal court in Boston. But Brian Cunha, the
lawyer who has filed those two cases, has agreed to refile them in
Providence if Lagueuex accepts jurisdiction of the case, lawyer Ronald
J. Resmini said in court today.
A slew of other lawsuits is expected to be brought in months to come.
Lagueux has indicated that whatever decision he makes on the
jurisdictional issue, he will probably ask the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals to review it.
The possibility that an appellate court might -- years down the line --
strike down the new federal law as technically flawed loomed large in
the arguments made before Lagueux by Max Wistow, a court-appointed
interim lead counsel for the fire victims.
Wistow, who told Lagueux that he was speaking on behalf of 185 dead and
injured fire victims and an eight-lawyer committee that represents them,
urged Lagueux to send all of the cases back to the Superior Court, in
Providence, to be heard by a judge there.
There's one big advantage in having the cases heard in the Superior
Court, he said. It's clear, said Wistow, that under the law, the state
court has the authority to hear such cases. But it is very unclear, he
said, whether the newly enacted MultiParty, Multiforum Trial
Jurisdiction Act of 2002 would stand up to appellate review. And if a
circuit court or the U.S. Supreme Court were to decide, years from now,
that there were fatal flaws in the wording of the new statute, the cases
would have to be tried all over again -- at great expense.
If Lagueuex sends the case back to the Superior Court, it is unclear at
this point whether a party could appeal that decision.
