PROVIDENCE -- A lawyers' steering committee that represents 182 victims of The Station nightclub fire wants all the civil suits relating to the deadly blaze heard by the state Superior Court, not the U.S. District Court.
The eight-lawyer steering committee yesterday filed papers with Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux explaining why they do not think the federal court has jurisdiction to hear the nightclub fire cases.
Lagueux set yesterday as the deadline for all interested parties in the nightclub fire cases to file memoranda with him indicating their positions on the jurisdictional issue. He plans to hold a hearing next month to hear arguments on the issue.
Until Lagueux issues his decision, he has stayed all discovery in the nightclub fire cases -- as has a Connecticut federal judge who has a lawsuit pending before him in Hartford on behalf of Connecticut victims of the West Warwick nightclub fire. That means that destructive testing of materials, such as the foam that covered the walls of The Station, will be delayed indefinitely.
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.
There is a split among the various parties already involved in lawsuits stemming from the fire -- as well as potential plaintiffs and defendants -- as to which court should hear the fire cases, which will likely be consolidated for trial.
The plaintiffs' steering committee, which represents the vast majority of fire victims who are seeking compensation, wants the state Superior Court to hear the case, as does American Foam, the Johnston company that sold the foam to the owners of The Station, Michael and Jeffrey Derderian. The Derderians also want the Superior Court to hear the cases.
But other plaintiffs want the federal court to hear the cases and their lawyers have already filed cases on their behalf in U.S. District Court in Providence, Boston and Connecticut.
Some of the defendants in the federal suits, including Anheuser-Busch, the beer manufacturer which is alleged to have been one of the sponsors of the Great White concert, want the cases heard by Lagueux.
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.
