Digital Extra: The Station Fire

11:55 AM EDT on Tuesday, August 23, 2005

By LYNN ARDITI
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The owners of The Station nightclub are scheduled to go to trial in state Workers' Compensation Court on Sept. 30 for failure to pay more than $200,000 in workers' compensation insurance benefits to the families of four nightclub workers killed in the disastrous fire at the club.

Lawyers for Jeffrey A. and Michael A. Derderian have maintained that the nightclub owners do not have the financial resources to pay the claims. So far, the lawyers have provided no documentation of their clients' finances, saying that to do so would violate their clients' Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

State Workers' Compensation Court Judge Bruce Q. Morin told the Derderians' lawyers at a pretrial hearing this morning that they should be prepared at the trial to provide evidence to show why their clients cannot pay the claims.

``I would expect the trial of these matters will be concluded'' on Sept. 30, Morin said.

Morin issued an order March 3 to collect the workers' compensation claims -- then estimated at $207,000, including $180,000 in benefits, $23,800 in penalties and $4,000 in legal fees -- from the Derderians and their company, Derco LLC.

But Morin was prevented from enforcing his order, pending the Derderians' request for a hearing on the case by the state Supreme Court.

Last June, the state Supreme Court refused to intervene in the lower court's order, paving the way for the lower court to enforce its order.

The four employees were among 100 who died and more than 200 injured in the blaze at the West Warwick club on Feb. 20, 2003.

The Derderians also face criminal charges stemming from the fire, which was ignited by pyrotechnics set off by the band Great White. Daniel Biechele, the former tour manager for the band, also faces those charges. All three have pleaded not guilty.