Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Judge Ronald R. Lagueux decides that insurance inspections of the nightclub were to determine policy suitability, and not public safety.

01:00 AM EST on Friday, November 11, 2005

BY PAUL EDWARD PARKER
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A federal judge has dropped three of the defendants in the civil lawsuit stemming from the Station nightclub fire.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit had argued that an insurance company for the nightclub's owners and two inspection companies working for the insurer should have done more to correct dangerous conditions at the West Warwick nightclub.

The Feb. 20, 2003, fire killed 100 and injured more than 200 others.

Essex Insurance Co., Multi-State Inspections Inc. and High Caliber Inspections had asked U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux to dismiss the parts of the lawsuit dealing with them.

In a 29-page order dated Wednesday, Lagueux sided with the companies.

The key question in the judge's decision was whether the companies had an obligation to protect the public when they conducted inspections of the nightclub.

The plaintiffs said properly conducted inspections would have revealed highly flammable polyurethane foam that had been placed on the club's walls as soundproofing. Fireworks set off by the rock band Great White ignited the foam, which helped spread fire throughout the club in about 90 seconds.

The plaintiffs also said proper inspections would have exposed that the club had too few exits, was frequently overcrowded and had other safety deficiencies.

But Judge Lagueux found that the purpose of the insurance inspections was so the insurance company could determine whether to issue a policy, set rates and other insurance-related objectives. The inspections were not done to ensure public safety, Lagueux wrote.

The insurance and inspection companies were among about 40 defendants in the case, which has more than 200 plaintiffs. Aspects of the civil case are currently on hold while club owners Michael A. and Jeffrey A. Derderian, who are brothers, are pursuing bankruptcy.

The Derderians 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.