Digital Extra: The Station Fire

Dozens of new defendants are added in the 249-page revision which mirrors allegations contained in two prior lawsuits filed on behalf of the fire victims.

08:45 AM EST on Thursday, February 16, 2006

BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The largest civil lawsuit in the aftermath of the Station nightclub fire was refiled in U.S. District Court late yesterday, adding 25 new victims as plaintiffs and 39 new defendants, including more foam manufacturers, three additional members of the rock band Great White and West Warwick's building inspector, Stephen D. Murray.

The amended master complaint is the third and final one to be filed by a group of nine lawyers on behalf of the families of 90 people killed and 176 injured in the nightclub fire. It represents about 90 percent of the nightclub fire victims and is the biggest of nine lawsuits that have been brought on behalf of the surviving spouses, parents and minor children of people who died or were injured in the catastrophic blaze.

The statute of limitations for filing civil suits in connection with the nightclub fire is Feb. 20 -- the three-year anniversary of the fire.

The fire at The Station started when fireworks for a Great White rock show ignited polyurethane packing foam on the walls of the wood-frame nightclub. At least 440 people were inside. The fire was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, killing 100 people and injuring more than 200.

John P. Barylick, one of the victims' lawyers, said yesterday he doesn't expect the civil suits to go to trial anytime soon. "It is a case of unprecedented complexity in terms of the sheer number of plaintiffs and defendants and some of the complex legal theories. The court is taking a very deliberate approach to it and properly so," he said.

Barylick called the newly filed complaint, which lists 97 defendants, "the result of extensive discovery and research by plaintiffs' counsel to identify all persons or entities possibly responsible for this tragedy."

The allegations in yesterday's 249-page filing mirror those contained in two prior lawsuits filed on behalf of the fire victims.

But the lawsuit adds some new defendants and new allegations. Among them: that Aram Dermanouelian, the owner of American Foam, the Johnston company that sold highly flammable polyurethane foam to defendants Jeffrey and Michael Derderian -- the owners of The Station -- discouraged or prohibited his employees from disclosing the risks of the foam products his company sold and that his "intentional actions . . . were willful, wanton and reckless" and "a proximate cause of the deaths and injuries to plaintiffs."

The lawsuit also alleges that after the fire, Triton Realty, the landlord for the nightclub, and its general partner, Raymond J. Villanova -- both previously named as defendants -- conveyed real estate they owned to defraud creditors, including the fire victims. The recipients of the property, the lawsuit alleges, included Villanova family members, including Villanova's wife, Frances, who is named as one of the new defendants.

Another new defendant, Busch Entertainment Corp. -- which is owned by Anheuser-Busch, the beer manufacturer already being sued by the fire victims as an alleged sponsor of the Great White concert -- allegedly helped to draft national standards for using pyrotechnics before audiences but failed to communicate the dangers of such use to those associated with the Feb. 20, 2003, concert in West Warwick.

The lawsuit also names three members of Great White who were not sued before -- David Felice, Mark Kendall and Eric Powers -- and LIN Television Corporation and LIN TV Corp. as new defendants. LIN, the lawsuit says, employed Jeffrey Derderian as a reporter and Brian Butler as a cameraman at Channel 12. The lawsuit alleges that Butler's actions in filming the fire blocked patrons and contributed to their injuries.

The new defendants include additional foam manufacturers that may have supplied the sound-dampening polyurethane foam that the Derderians installed at The Station, as well as another company, Polar Industries, which manufactured and sold polystyrene sound-proofing insulation, which the lawsuit says was dangerous and installed in the ceiling of the drummer's alcove and elsewhere in The Station by Howard Julian, who owned the club before the Derderians.

The new lawsuit also includes allegations against companies that performed inspections at The Station and insured it -- entities that have been dismissed as defendants by Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux. Barylick said that was done to preserve the victims' rights to appeal the dismissals if they choose to do so after final judgment is entered in the case.

The new lawsuit also names two other previously dismissed parties -- lrving J. Owens, the former state fire marshal, and the State of Rhode Island, as Owens' employer -- for "egregious negligence" for their alleged failure to enforce appropriate capacity limitations and exit requirements at The Station, failing to discover the highly flammable soundproofing foam on the club walls and failing to properly train and supervise local officials responsible for enforcing the state's fire safety laws. West Warwick's fire inspector, Denis P. Larocque, remains a defendant as well.

tbreton@projo.com / (401) 277-7362