Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:50 PM EDT on Friday, October 7, 2005

By TRACY BRETON
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Lawyers representing The Station nightclub fire victims and the manufacturers of two foam companies that have been sued by the victims today asked a Superior Court judge to block prosecutors from performing further tests on the foam that was used as soundproofing at the club.

The state wants to use virtually all of the remaining foam in its possession to conduct a test that victims' lawyer Max Wistow today termed unnecessary. Wistow asserted that the parties to the civil suits -- which have been given just 4 square feet of the foam -- need more of it for testing so it can be determined who manufactured it.

Judge Francis J. Darigan made no immmediate decision on the issue. But for now, the state cannot proceed with further testing unless the court gives it the okay.

The judge urged the lawyers for the victims, the foam manufacturers, the attorney general's office, the nightclub owners and the former tour manager for the band to sit down together to try to reach a compromise regarding further foam tests.

If they cannot, Darigan said he will decide the matter.

Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and Daniel M. Biechele, former tour manager for the rock band Great White, face criminal charges, and they've also been named as defendants in lawsuits. The Derderians and Biechele have each been charged with 200 counts of manslaughter. Biechele set off the pyrotechnics that ignited the foam.

In arguments that lasted for about 1 1/2 hours this morning, lawyer Max Wistow -- who told the court he was speaking for 87 of the people killed in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire and 165 of those injured in the blaze -- accused the attorney general's office of ``giving us the barest amount of courtesy'' in addressing the victims' concerns since the fire.

Prosecutors say they have taken ``unprecedented'' steps in trying to share information with the victims' lawyers. But Wistow said that wasn't so.

``One hundred lives have been snuffed out and 200 lives have been changed forever'' as a result of

The Station fire, he argued. ``Some consideration has to be paid to that.''

Wistow and lawyers representing two foam manufacturers that have been sued in connection with the fire asked Darigan to take steps to ensure that as much of the remaining foam from the club be preserved.

The parties to the civil suits want to do an army of tests in an attempt to try to pinpoint what company made the highly flammable polyurethane foam that lined the walls and ceiling of The Station. Some testing by the civil lawyers is currently scheduled to go forward next week.

In court today, Wistow told Darigan that such tests are crucial because the victims' lawyers have been told that American Foam, in Johnston, can't be sure whether the foam it sold to the Derderians came from General Foam or Leggett & Platt, since it ``intermixed'' foam from both companies at its place of business.

Darigan said that ``the court is most aware of the great tragedy visited upon all of the people in that nightclub fire'' as well as their relatives and friends.

``We've tried to keep the interests of all parties in mind,'' he said. He said that it was his impression that the cooperation the victims' lawyers was receiving from state prosecutors was ``admirable...but that's not for me to judge.''

What is clear, he said is that ``the people most affected by this tragedy will never be satisfied,'' whatever the outcome of the civil and criminal cases is. And he said that while he hopes the civil and criminal lawyers can work out an agreement regarding allocation of the remaining foam, the law mandates that ``the criminal aspects of his case have to take priority over the civil interests.''