Victims' lawyers hope to use the samples to ascertain the manufacturer it before the statute of limitations allowing them to sue for damages expires.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 10, 2005

BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Lawyers representing the victims of The Station nightclub fire will finally get some of the polyurethane foam that was seized from the charred ruins of the club so that tests can be done to help pinpoint who manufactured the highly flammable material.

Lawyer Mark Mandell, who represents dozens of the people who were killed or injured in the Feb. 20, 2003, nightclub fire, said yesterday that he and James Ruggieri, a lawyer representing some of the foam manufacturers already being sued, will go to the West Warwick Police Department at 2 p.m. today to pick up four pieces of the foam, each measuring 1 square foot. He said they will take the foam to a storage warehouse in Cranston where it will be kept until it is cut into smaller pieces for future testing by the victims' lawyers and foam manufacturers named as defendants in the civil cases.

Mandell said the victims' lawyers have chosen a testing lab near Chicago, McCrone Labs. He said he hopes the tests can be done in September. But first, he said, the victims' lawyers must get court permission to cut samples of the foam from the sheets they are being given.

The highly flammable foam that covered the walls and ceiling of The Station is a centerpiece of the civil and criminal cases stemming from the nightclub fire.

Prosecutors assert that the owners of the nightclub, Jeffrey A. and Michael A. Derderian -- each of whom is charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter -- were criminally negligent when they decided to install the foam as soundproofing, then allowed bands to use pyrotechnics inside the club, in close proximity to the foam.

A third defendant in the criminal case, Daniel M. Biechele, was the tour manager of the rock band Great White who set off fireworks the night of the fire. He faces the same charges as the Derderians because he set off pyrotechnics inside The Station without a permit the night of the fire.

One hundred people died as a result of the nightclub fire; more than 200 others suffered injuries. Most have filed lawsuits seeking monetary damages against a host of defendants, including various foam manufacturers, the Derderians, Biechele, the manufacturer of the pyrotechnics that Biechele set off, and fire inspectors.

The victims' lawyers have been trying for many months to get samples of the foam seized from the nightclub so that they can try to ascertain which company manufactured it before the statute of limitations expires. That statute will toll in seven months. After that, no more defendants can be sued for monetary damages.

In a 24-page memorandum and order that was made part of the public record yesterday, U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin said that based on representations made in court, victims' lawyers will get 25 percent of the foam from each of the four sheets being turned over today by state prosecutors. He said that there will be enough left over for the foam manufacturers to do their own tests later on.