Digital Extra: The Station Fire

05:53 PM EST on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

By TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE - The largest civil lawsuit in the aftermath of The Station nightclub fire was refiled in U.S. District Court late today, adding 25 new victims as plaintiffs and 39 new defendants, including more foam manufacturers, three additional members of the rock band Great White and West Warwick's building inspector, Stephen D. Murray.

The amended master complaint is the third and final one to be filed by a group of nine lawyers on behalf of the families of 90 people killed and 176 injured in the nightclub fire. It represents about 90 percent of the victims of the Feb. 20, 2003, West Warwick fire and is the biggest of nine lawsuits that have been brought on behalf of the surviving spouses, parents and minor children of victims who died or were injured in the catastrophic blaze.

The statute of limitations for filing civil suits in connection with the nightclub fire is Feb. 20 - the three-year anniversary of the fire.

The fire started when fireworks for a Great White rock show ignited polyurethane packing foam on the walls of the wood-frame nightclub. At least 440 people were inside. The fire was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, killing 100 people and injuring more than 200 others.

John P. Barylick, one of the victims' lawyers, said today he doesn't expect the civil suits to go to trial anytime soon. ``It is a case of unprecedented complexity in terms of the sheer number of plaintiffs and defendants and some of the complex legal theories. The court is taking a very deliberate approach to it and properly so,'' he said.

Barylick called the newly filed complaint ``the result of extensive discovery and research by plaintiffs' counsel to identify all persons or entities possibly responsible for this tragedy.''