Digital Extra: The Station Fire

A burst pipe has damaged the office of defense lawyer Kathleen M. Hagerty, delaying prosecution of the nightclub's owners until at least Aug. 20.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 22, 2005

BY LYNN ARDITI
Journal Staff Writer

The criminal case against the owners of The Station nightclub will be delayed for at least two months following a weekend flood in the office of one of the defense lawyers.

A Supreme Court judge yesterday granted a request by the Warwick law firm Flaherty & Lawrence to halt all legal proceedings after a pipe burst in an upstairs office Sunday, flooding the floors below.

The "protective order" will delay, at least until Aug. 20, prosecution of Station nightclub owners Michael A. and Jeffrey A. Derderian.

The Derderian brothers and Daniel M. Biechele, the former tour manager for the rock band Great White, each face 200 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the nightclub fire on Feb. 20, 2003.

Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr., who is presiding over the criminal case, said yesterday that he expects "some minor delay" in scheduling, but "I don't expect it to be substantial."

The order also will postpone proceedings against the Derderians in state Workers' Compensation Court. The state has ordered the Derderians to pay more than $200,000 in workers' compensation insurance benefits plus penalties to the families of four nightclub workers killed in the fire. No enforcement action has been taken yet.

Jeffrey B. Pine, a lawyer representing Jeffrey Derderian, and Kathleen M. Hagerty's co-counsel in the state workers' compensation case, said the flood's impact is temporary.

"Long-term, I don't think it's going to have any effect," Pine said, adding, "I'll be working hard this summer either way."

Hagerty, who has a private practice at Flaherty & Lawrence, did not return phone calls to her office yesterday.

The order, signed by retired state Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger, is expected to have no effect on the civil lawsuits against the Derderians, which are under way in U.S. District Court, in Providence.

"The civil litigation is in a preliminary stage -- you might say even a pre-preliminary stage," said Anthony F. DeMarco, a lawyer who represents the Derderians in the civil cases, "and that is going forward."

Yesterday, a green "Servpro" van with block letters on the side that read "Fire, Water, Cleanup & Restoration" was parked in the driveway and workers moved through the hallways of the offices at 70 Kent Ave., Warwick.

On the third floor, dehumidifiers hummed noisily and wires snaked along the carpet. A pipe burst on the fourth floor, leaking water down the walls to the floors below, a worker wearing a Servpro shirt said.

"This office was the most affected," he said, pointing to the door of the Flaherty & Lawrence law firm.

A piece of paper taped to the door with a list of the lawyers names read: "Due to a water leak the office is temporarily closed."

The door opened to reveal holes where some of the ceiling panels had been removed.

"I'm not going to have any comment for you," said a man in a sports shirt and slacks who identified himself as James S. Lawrence, one of the four lawyers who signed the request for the protective order.

He declined to answer questions about the nature or extent of the water damage.

The request for the protective order stated that "water damage has rendered the office utterly inoperable, and according to disaster recovery specialists managing the clean-up, will remain inoperable for a period of an undetermined number of weeks, and will likely require temporary relocation of its offices."

Electronic data storage may be all the rage, but the legal profession still operates in a paper world, said Barry Knight, a senior account manager for the filing firm, Donnegan Systems Inc.

"They have folders everywhere. They're pack rats," Knight said. "They seem to be the less concerned about managing their records. The whole law profession typically, from what I've seen. I don't know why."

The company, based in Northboro, Mass., with offices in East Providence, works with many professionals, including lawyers, to develop more efficient storage systems. Special shelving. Enclosed storage spaces. Electronic data storage.

"Our job," Knight said, "is to help people not have that happen."

The Station fire case involves "literally hundreds" of boxes of files, said DeMarco, the lawyer representing the Derderians in the civil cases. "That's the nature of litigation today," DeMarco said. "You go into any office that does litigation, you're going to see files upon files upon files . . . because if they're active files, you're almost constantly looking at them."

How does he store his files?

"I don't want to answer that," he said, "on the grounds that it may incriminate me."

Lynn Arditi, a Journal staff writer, can be reached at (401) 277-7335 or by e-mail at larditi [at] projo.com