Digital Extra: The Station Fire

04:47 PM EST on Friday, November 18, 2005

By JACK PERRY
projo.com staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- A federal judge has dropped the state of Rhode Island and the state fire marshal from the civil lawsuits stemming from the 2003 Station nightclub fire, which killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others.

But Judge Ronald R. Lagueux declined to drop the town of West Warwick, where the fire happened, and the town's fire marshal, who had inspected the nightclub and okayed it for fire safety.

The plaintiffs in the case allege that the defendants were negligent in their enforcement of fire codes and other safety regulations and the state and municipalities are liable for the negligence of their employees.

But Lagueux found that state fire Marshal Irving J. Owens is protected by state law, which says in part, "Any fire marshal, acting in good faith and without malice, shall be free from liability."

Lagueux noted that the plaintiffs had not charged that Owens acted in bad faith or with malice.

The plaintiffs argued that the state should be held liable even if Owens isn't, but the judge found that the same language that protects Owens also protects the state.

"If no liability can be charged against Owens, then no respondeat superior liability can be charged to the state," Lagueux wrote.

He noted that Rhode Island passed the statutory immunity law in 1975 and two later reviews by the Rhode Island Supreme Court supported his interpretation.

Lagueux, however, rejected seven arguments in a motion to dismiss by the town of West Warwick on behalf of its fire inspector Denis Larocque, finance director Malcolm Moore and police officer Anthony Bettencourt, who was hired to work as a special duty officer providing security on the night of the fire.

For example, Larocque argued that he had statutory immunity like Owens because he is a deputy to the state fire marshal, but Lagueux noted that Larocque was identified in the suit as a fire inspector for Warwick, and the court has no evidence, at this point, that he's been appointed a deputy fire marshal.

Furthermore, Lagueux notes, the plaintiffs complain that Larocque's "negligence 'constituted a lack of good faith.' " If the defendants can prove their claim, then the state's statutory immunity law wouldn't protect Larocque.

Lagueux noted that the court reviews such dismissal motions in a light favorable to the plaintiffs and assumes the plaintiffs' allegations are true.

Lagueux is overseeing a case that consolidates the many civil suits filed in the wake of the Feb. 20, 2003, fire touched off when a band's pyrotechnics ignited flammable foam soundproofing. It includes 250 plaintiffs and 50 defendants.

The fire has also prompted action in criminal court. Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian and Daniel M. Biechele, the Great White tour manager who set off the fireworks, each face 200 counts of manslaughter -- two counts for each of the 100 people who died. They have filed motions to dismiss.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Paul Edward Parker.