PROVIDENCE -- Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux told lawyers in a chambers conference yesterday that he will hold a hearing in mid-October on which court has jurisdiction to hear The Station fire victims' cases.
But according to lawyers who attended the private conference, Lagueux indicated that whatever he decides, he will probably ask the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision -- which could lead to a year's delay in getting the issue resolved.
Until he issues his decision, Lagueux has also stayed all discovery in the nightclub fire cases -- which means that destructive testing of materials, such as the foam that covered the walls of the West Warwick nightclub, will be delayed indefinitely.
The stay also means that, for now, various parties that have been sued in connection with the deadly fire, as well as potential defendants, do not have to respond to recent subpoenas issued by an eight-member steering committee of plaintiffs' lawyers who are gearing up to file suit on behalf of dozens of people injured or killed in the fire and their survivors.
In recent weeks, lawyer Patrick T. Jones, a state court-appointed associate interim lead counsel for the fire victims, had issued subpoenas to a raft of corporate entities who have been sued in connection with The Station nightclub fire, as well as other businesses from which the victims' lawyers are seeking information.
Jones was seeking documents from these corporations to aid the steering committee in gathering information for lawsuits the group plans to file -- and to help the steering committee decide which parties to sue.
The Feb. 20 fire caused the deaths of 100 people and injuries to more than 200 others. The fire broke out after the rock band Great White set off pyrotechnics, which ignited highly flammable packing foam that the nightclub owners had installed as soundproofing.
Among the information Jones is seeking from Manic Music, Great White's management company, is the identity of the owner or lessor of the tour bus used by Great White on the night of the fire.
Other items subpoenaed were documents showing how many tickets Strawberries sold for the concert and whether Strawberries knew the legal capacity of The Station.
Jones also subpoenaed CBS, asking the broadcasting giant for documents relating to Station nightclub owner Jeffrey Derderian's employment at WPRI-TV, a local CBS affiliate where Derderian worked as a reporter.
The plaintiffs' steering committee is trying to find out more about the assignments Derderian and a Channel 12 cameraman, Brian Butler, were given on Feb. 20. According to Channel 12 spokeswoman Amy Quinn, the night of the Station fire, Butler was at The Station collecting generic bar-scene footage for a feature story on safety in public places. While there, he captured pictures on videotape of the pyrotechnic display and the flames that destroyed the nightclub.
The television story was suggested by a TV consultant and was based on the Chicago nightclub crowd stampede that left 21 people dead, WPRI said shortly after the fire. WPRI has said that The Station was not the subject of the report and that there was no plan to publicize or promote the club. The TV station has confirmed that Derderian was the reporter assigned to the story. He no longer works at Channel 12.
The decision Lagueux is facing is whether the Rhode Island federal court or the state Superior Court has jurisdiction to hear the fire victims' cases.
Historically, such cases would have been heard by the Superior Court in Rhode Island.
But a new federal law, which took effect just 18 days before The Station fire, makes it easier for plaintiffs or defendants to have the U.S. District Court hear lawsuits that stem from "accidents" that cause at least 75 deaths. The Station fire may be the first test of the newly enacted statute. Under the new law, as long as one victim is from a state different from where the accident occurred, "any two defendants reside in different states" and any two adverse parties are from different states, the federal court may hear the matter.
Currently, only seven lawsuits have been filed in connection with the deadly nightclub fire. They are pending in three different federal courts -- in Providence, Hartford, Conn., and Boston. Some of the Rhode Island federal cases were originally filed in Superior Court, Providence, but were removed to federal court by various defendants.
Lagueux has no power to order the Connecticut and Massachusetts cases transferred to him. But some of the parties that have been sued in those states have indicated that they are going to ask judges presiding over the Boston and Hartford cases to transfer them to Lagueux. Luna Tech, which plaintiffs' lawyers claim manufactured the pyrotechnics that started the nightclub fire, has already filed a motion in Connecticut to transfer that case to Rhode Island.
And lawyers for Anheuser-Busch, the beer manufacturer, plan to file similar motions in Hartford and Boston, according to some of the lawyers who attended yesterday's chambers conference with Lagueux. Anheuser-Busch has been named as a defendant in several of the lawsuits for allegedly acting as a sponsor of the Great White show.
Unless Lagueux decides otherwise at some later date, all the protocols regarding testing and access to evidence taken from the fire site -- set up by Superior Court Judge Alice B. Gibney -- remain in effect. Lawyers who want access to a secure warehouse where 717 pieces of evidence are being stored are required to pay a pro-rata share of the cost incurred to collect and store the evidence.
