Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:18 PM EDT on Thursday, July 14, 2005

Journal and projo.com staff

PROVIDENCE -- Lawyers representing victims of the The Station nightclub fire were in U.S. District Court today complaining that prosecutors had changed an agreement allowing them to test important evidence in both criminal and civil cases.

The dispute concerns the testing of flammable soundproofing foam that covered the walls and ceiling of the West Warwick nightclub, which burned Feb. 20, 2003, killing 100 and injuring 200 more.

About 24 lawyers representing victims and defendants in the civil case were in the courtroom. Lawyers for the victims complained to U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin that prosecutors would limit their research by preventing them from running tests that would destroy any of the foam recovered from the nightclub.

The lawyers want to test the foam to determine if any more manufacturers should be added to their lawsuits before a statute of limitations expires, and they say some of the necessary tests could destroy a small amount of the foam.

The lawyers say prosecutors from the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office notified them of the restriction yesterday, nearly two months after Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr., presiding over the criminal case, announced an agreement that lawyers for the victims would get one square foot each of the remaining pieces of the polyurethane foam for testing.

Martin said he would need clarification from Darigan before deciding what type of testing can be done.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Tracy Breton.