PROVIDENCE — In the latest in a series of settlement offers, the last “big pocket” defendant in The Station nightclub fire lawsuits has tentatively agreed to pay $25 million to the fire victims and their families.

The new settlement offer was made by Sealed Air Corporation, a publicly traded company headquartered in Elmwood, N.J., which manufactures polyethylene foam. It was filed yesterday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Providence.

Because Sealed Air is the last “big pocket” defendant sued by the fire victims and their families, the tentative agreement increases the likelihood that the case will never go to trial.

The offer by Sealed Air brings the pool of money offered to victims so far to $148.815 million. But all of the settlement offers are only tentative at this point. The fire victims and their families won’t be getting any of the money anytime soon.

While the plaintiffs’ lawyers have agreed to the settlements “in principle,” the settlements hinge on the approval of all of the victims, the approval of Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux, the filing of documents that would preserve claims against other defendants and the court’s approval of a special master’s plan for divvying up the money.

One hundred people died in the fire at The Station on Feb. 20, 2003 and more than 200 others were injured. The fire began after Daniel M. Biechele, the manager for the rock band Great White, set off fireworks at the outset of the show. Sparks from the fireworks ignited highly flammable foam that was used as soundproofing.

The victims’ lawsuits alleged that Sealed Air manufactured the polyethylene foam that was underneath the highly flammable polyurethane foam that Jeffrey and Michael Derderian installed as soundproofing after buying The Station in 2000.

Sealed Air is a Delaware corporation which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. According to the company’s Web site, Sealed Air operates in 51 countries, has more than 17,000 employees and over 100 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Last year, it had revenue of $4.65 billion. In addition to manufacturing polyethylene foam products, it also makes packaging materials such as Bubble Wrap and Jiffy Mailers.

According to the victims’ lawsuits, Sealed Air made and sold polyethylene foam that was installed at The Station in June 1996 — before the Derderians bought the club. The lawsuits allege that Sealed Air’s polyethylene foam was made and sold “untreated without any flame-retardant chemicals” and “possessed extraordinarily dangerous and defective flammability properties.”

“It ignited too easily, burned too vigorously once ignited and produced unreasonably dangerous toxic smoke and gases,” the lawsuits contend. The plaintiffs also allege that Sealed Air sold this dangerous foam “without adequate warnings.”

The lawsuits allege that “the extremely hazardous, unreasonably dangerous and defective foam in question was a proximate cause of the plaintiffs’ injuries and deaths” from The Station fire. They allege that Sealed Air should have taken steps to prevent its polyethylene foam from being installed as an interior finish in a place of public assembly such as a nightclub.

In a statement released by Ken Aurichio, Sealed Air’s director for corporate communications, the company said:

“Our hearts go out to the families affected by this terrible tragedy. In order to reach a resolution, we have agreed to a settlement in principle, and our insurance carriers have agreed to fully fund the settlement. Though Sealed Air was not responsible for the fire, we believe that this result is in the best interest of all concerned. The settlement is subject to Court approval.”

Aurichio said that the product at issue in the victims’ lawsuit is not used for soundproofing or insulation, but is a “packaging product that was allegedly used as insulation” at The Station. He added that “it was never determined” who actually manufactured the polyethylene foam that was found in the ruins of the nightclub.

There are several remaining defendants in the fire victims’ lawsuits, including American Foam, the Johnston company that sold the polyurethane foam to the Derderians, and the Derderians themselves, who each pleaded no-contest to 100 criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter — one for each person who died as a result of the fire at their nightclub.

Also remaining as defendants are the Town of West Warwick and the State of Rhode Island, which were responsible for inspections at the nightclub.

The lawsuits allege that the state and town are to blame for the deaths and injuries suffered by the nightclub patrons because they were responsible for fire inspections at The Station, yet never cited the nightclub’s owners for the highly flammable foam that was installed there. They also fault the town for failing to properly police overcrowding at the club.

Jeffrey Derderian’s videotaped deposition — where the victims’ lawyers were going to question him under oath about issues relating to the fire and the operation of his nightclub — was scheduled to take place in U.S. District Court on June 9. But without public explanation, it was postponed.

Experts have said that the cheap, porous polyurethane foam bought by the Derderians from American Foam is 20 times as flammable as wood and burns much like gasoline, emitting a dense, toxic smoke.

Last month, several polyurethane foam manufacturers tentatively agreed to pay $30 million to the fire victims. The manufacturers contributing to that settlement are Foamex International and General Foam — a company Foamex acquired in 2001; Leggett & Platt; FFNC Inc. (also known as Future Foam of North Carolina) and Wm. T. Burnett & Co. Inc.

Currently, a court-appointed special master, Duke University Law Prof. Francis E. McGovern — who is donating his services to the fire victims — is working on a matrix that would be used to determine how much each plaintiff would receive from all of the settlement agreements.

tbreton@projo.com