PROVIDENCE –– It looks increasingly unlikely that the Station nightclub fire victims will get any settlement money from their federal lawsuits by the end of the year. But the judge presiding over the mass-tort case, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux, seems to be getting impatient.

At a status conference with lawyers Tuesday, he said he wanted a court-appointed special master, William A. Poore, to appear before him at 2 p.m. Nov. 10 to inform the court exactly when he intends to file a report concerning the proposed settlements that are slated to go to about 150 minors who are plaintiffs in the lawsuits.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Mandell told Lagueux and U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin — who has been working on the case with Lagueux — that Poore has been engaged in a laborious process of reviewing proposed settlements for the minors as well as the adults who will share in the $176 million that has been offered to settle the lawsuits. He assured the court that Poore planned to file his report by the end of November, after he completed interviewing all of the parents or guardians of the children and finished a review “of thousands of numbers” he’s been given on spreadsheets.

But Lagueux said he and Martin would “like to have a specific date from him” and get an update from Poore personally.

Poore was appointed special master for the minor plaintiffs last November to review a proposed settlement-distribution grid devised by a Duke University law professor, as well as proposed awards to each of the minor children of the fire victims.

Sixty-five defendants, including the State of Rhode Island and the Town of West Warwick, have offered a total of $176 million to settle the federal lawsuits brought by the fire victims and their families. One hundred people died and more than 200 were injured in the Feb. 20, 2003 fire, the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.

But before any payments are made to the victims, several things remain to be done, according to Mandell, who represents several dozen plaintiffs. Among them:

•A trust fund must be created, approved by the court and funded with the settlement proceeds.

•Lagueux must sign off on all of the proposed settlements for each plaintiff after ascertaining that each settlement is fair.

•The victims will have to sign release forms that would be given to each defendant that contributed settlement money.

•Once Lagueux signs off on the case, the settlements for the deceased victims and minor survivors must be approved by probate judges in the cities and towns where they resided.

tbreton@projo.com