A judge rules that the brothers are liable for the funeral expenses and lost wages of four employees.

01:50 PM EST on Friday, March 4, 2005

BY LYNN ARDITI
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court judge yesterday ordered the owners of The Station to pay more than $200,000 for funeral expenses and lost wages to the families of a waitress, a bouncer, a ticket-taker and a door security worker who were killed in the nightclub fire on Feb. 20, 2003.

Judge Bruce Q. Morin said that the nightclub's owners, brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, and their company, Derco LLC, are "jointly and individually" liable for the workers' compensation benefits of the four employees.

The Derderians' lawyers said they plan to seek a stay of the order while they appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

At yesterday's pretrial hearing, amid the legal formalities and dickering over details to determine who was entitled to what benefits, bits of information emerged about the victims' families.

For the 14-year-old son of nightclub bouncer Tracy King, there was the matter of a change of address. The boy, Jordan, had moved out of the Warwick house he used to share with King's two other sons, and is living with his mother in Providence.

For the 9-year-old son of cocktail waitress Dina DeMaio, there was the matter of who receives the $732.09 per week that the family's lawyer says the boy is owed for his mother's lost wages. Should the money for Justin DeMaio be sent to his legal guardian, Steven Beardsworth, in Norway, Maine? Or, should it be sent to the boy's grandmother, Patricia Belanger, who is executor of Dina DeMaio's will, in West Warwick?

The Derderians never purchased the required workers' compensation coverage when they bought the nightclub. Last August, a state Workers' Compensation Court judge ordered that the Derderians be held personally liable for a $1.06-million fine against Derco LLC for failing to carry the coverage. The Derderians are appealing.

Rhode Island workers' compensation law entitles the family of someone who dies on the job to receive $15,000 for funeral costs plus a portion of the deceased person's lost wages. Dependent children are entitled to benefits until age 18 or, if they are in college, age 23.

The wage estimates in the petitions filed on behalf of the families of King, 39, and DeMaio, 30, were based upon earnings from their full-time jobs, as well as their part-time work at The Station.

DeMaio's son is owed an estimated $75,000, including $15,000 in death benefits, for the last two years.

King earned about $50 working about one night a week as a bouncer, said Andrew Caslowitz, a lawyer representing the King family.

Kathleen M. Hagerty, the lawyer representing Michael Derderian, took issue with the estimate of King's wages.

"I believe it was not weekly at The Station," she said, "so I don't believe it was $50 a week."

"Whether he worked one day or every three or four weeks," Caslowitz responded, "it still comes out to $50," because the amount is based only on the weeks he worked.

King also earned $603.10 per week, including overtime, working for Warwick's highway department, Caslowitz said.

The benefits his family is owed for the last two years, including funeral costs, total about $78,000, Caslowitz said.

The families of Andrea and Steven Mancini, a couple who lived in Johnston, have petitioned the court for $15,000 each in death benefits. Neither of the families petitioned for lost wages. Steven Mancini, 39, played guitar in the band Fathead, which opened for Great White on the night of the fire. He was checking IDs at the door; his wife, 28, was taking tickets.

"Andrea Mancini had no dependents at the time of her death?" Judge Morin asked.

"That's right, your honor," said a lawyer representing her estate.

Does anyone dispute that Andrea Mancini was an employee of The Station? asked Morin.

"Your honor," Hagerty replied, "we clearly don't dispute that Andrea Mancini was an extremely valued and well-loved employee."

Jeffrey B. Pine, the lawyer representing Jeffrey Derderian, said at the hearing, "It's not the position of my client or Derco to deny benefits to any employees who deserve benefits . . . [but] the ability to pay is another matter."

Asked after the hearing whether the Derderians had the assets to pay the benefits ordered by the judge, Pine replied, "I don't believe they have anywhere near the resource to satisfy these orders."

The workers' compensation benefits for the four employees together amount to "over $200,000," Pine said.

Pine and Hagerty made an offer to the families to settle the workers' compensation benefit petitions prior to yesterday's hearing, Pine said, but the families rejected the offer, which he declined to disclose.

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