Digital Extra: The Station Fire

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, December 11, 2005

PROVIDENCE -- A federal judge has ordered Lloyd's of London, the international insurance underwriters, dropped as a defendant in the civil lawsuit filed in the aftermath of the 2003 Station nightclub fire in West Warwick that killed 100 people and injured another 200.

Senior Judge Ronald Lagueux wrote in an order issued last week that the liability insurance policy issued to Station coowner Michael Derderian was not in effect at the time of the fire on Feb. 20, 2003.

Plaintiffs seeking damages in the suit asserted that inspectors for Lloyd's had done an inadequate job of inspecting the nightclub for "safety hazards and fire/building code violations."

The plaintiffs also complained that inspectors for the insurer failed to note the inadequacy of exits and the practices of overcrowding at the club.

Fire ripped through the Station within minutes after the tour manager of a rock band performing that night set off indoor fireworks. The pyrtechnics caused polyurethane foam that had been used as soundproofing to catch fire.

The lawsuit includes about 250 plaintiffs and 50 defendants. Judge Lagueux last month dismissed Essex Insurance Co., Multi-State Inspections Inc., and High Caliber Inspections from the case.