PROVIDENCE –– Lawyers for the victims of the Station nightclub fire and the parties they have sued are trying to hammer out the wording of a release form the plaintiffs will have to sign to get money from a $176-million settlement fund that all of the defendants have agreed to contribute to.

But it appears that it will still be months before the victims receive any money.

At a status conference Tuesday, lawyers for the plaintiffs and defendants told U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin about incremental steps being taken to effectuate the settlements.

“We have made a lot of progress,” victims’ lawyer Mark Mandell told Martin. But neither he nor lawyer James Ruggieri –– who chairs a committee of defendants’ lawyers –– asked the judge to approve anything, saying there are still things that need to be ironed out.

More than 300 people who suffered injuries or lost loved ones in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire filed civil lawsuits seeking money damages. Under a proposed plan of distribution submitted by court-appointed special master Francis E. McGovern, a Duke University law school professor, the survivors who were most badly burned and were hospitalized the longest will receive more money than several families who lost loved ones in the fire. A minor child could end up receiving more than a surviving spouse.

McGovern’s plan operates on a point system and he proposes different points for death cases and for injury claims. The system is similar to those used in other mass liability cases, such as the settlements in the 9/11 attacks.

To get money, the victims will have to submit claim forms through their lawyers, with the required documentation, to a neutral verification expert who will check to make sure each completed form is accurate. The expert will be appointed by the court and chosen by the victims’ lawyers.

Martin scheduled another status conference for 10 a.m. on Feb. 10. But the judge who must give final approval to the settlements and distribution process, Ronald R. Lagueux, is still out ill. It is unclear when he plans to come back to work.

tbreton@projo.com