PROVIDENCE — Lawyers representing two foam manufacturers being sued by victims of the Station nightclub fire yesterday dropped their objections to the appointment of a special master who would devise a method to equitably distribute settlement money offered to the plaintiffs.

This makes it more likely that Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux will approve the appointment of Duke University Law Prof. Francis E. McGovern as special master in the Station fire civil cases. Lagueux is scheduled to take up the matter at a hearing tomorrow afternoon.

Lawyers representing General Foam and Foamex, two foam manufacturers that are being sued by the fire victims, had filed objections to McGovern’s appointment by the court. But in newly filed papers, lawyers James A. Ruggieri and Gerald C. Demaria say they are withdrawing their objections because the victims’ lawyers have clarified the limited role McGovern would play.

They say that as long as they can preserve their right to object to settlement offers and won’t have to shoulder any of the fees that McGovern charges — and because the victims are not asking McGovern to play a role in the court’s review of settlements — they won’t argue against his appointment.

Lawyers for those who lost loved ones or who suffered injuries in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire — which took 100 lives and caused injuries to more than 200 others — are asking the court to approve McGovern’s appointment so that he can develop a matrix to divvy up money that is being offered by some of the defendants to settle the lawsuits now pending against them.

In recent weeks, a handful of the approximately 90 defendants who remain in the civil suits have made tentative offers totaling $13.5 million to settle the victims’ claims. The victims’ lawyers are currently negotiating with more of the defendants and are hopeful that additional settlement offers will be forthcoming.

No settlement money has been paid out yet; Lagueux would have to approve all proposed settlements before the victims get any money.

McGovern has performed similar duties as a special master more than 50 times in other complex tort cases around the country, including the DDT toxic exposure litigation, the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device litigation and the silicone breast implant cases. He has also participated in developing a reparations system for people, businesses and government entities affected by the Iraq war.

If appointed by Lagueux, he would interview the victims and their families and decide how the settlement money would be divided, depending on the degree of injury, number of dependent family members as well as other variables. The court would still independently have to approve all settlement offers after determining that they were being made in good faith.

Demaria and Ruggieri say in their court filing that they have been assured by the victims’ lawyers that all costs associated with McGovern’s hiring will be borne by the victims pro-rata and that all of the victims’ lawyers’ fees will be based solely upon whatever their clients recover in damages.

tbreton@projo.com