The Town of West Warwick and the State of Rhode Island have each agreed to pay victims of the Station nightclub fire $10 million in tentative settlement agreements announced yesterday in federal court filings.

Both agreements are premised on a number of conditions. The conditions include the stipulation that the town’s insurance provider, the Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust, contribute the maximum amount of the town’s insurance policy and that the town finance the balance of the settlement through a bond.

The settlements are also subject to approval by all of the victims and the court, and the court’s approval of an allocation plan being developed by a special master.

Lawyers for the fire victims alleged in their lawsuits that the state, the Town of West Warwick and some of their employees were responsible for the deaths and injuries suffered by their clients because of “egregious” negligence.

The employees they cited for blame included Irving J. Owens, the state fire marshal who retired at the end of 2005; now-retired West Warwick fire inspector Denis P. Larocque; the town’s former building inspector Stephen D. Murray; and West Warwick police Officer Anthony Bettencourt, who was working as a special detail officer at the overcrowded club the night the fire broke out at The Station.

Including yesterday’s $20-million proposal, approximately $175 million has been tentatively offered to settle the fire victims’ claims. This includes $1 million that the court is holding from the rock band Great White — whose pyrotechnics sparked the deadly fire — and many millions offered by other parties, including corporations that allegedly made the foam that lined the walls of the club and sponsors of the Great White show, among them, the beer manufacturer Anheuser-Busch.

The town had an eroding policy limit of $4 million with its insurer, according to Ian C. Ridlon, general counsel and director of legal services for the agency. That means Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust would contribute however much is left in the policy after deducting defense costs for the case. Ridlon did not have the defense costs readily available, and could not say how much remained in the policy.

Town officials yesterday declined to comment on the settlement, referring all inquiries to Marc DeSisto, the insurance company lawyer handling the town’s defense. DeSisto did not return calls seeking comment yesterday. Governor Carcieri declined to comment on the settlement yesterday, saying through a spokesperson that he had not yet reviewed it.

Lawyers for the fire victims are hoping that Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux will approve the settlements in time for the victims to have their money by the end of the year.

No settlement money has been distributed yet. First, Lagueux must approve a distribution formula a court-appointed special master is devising that will determine how much each plaintiff will get from the settlement proceeds. Duke University Law Prof. Francis E. McGovern, who is donating his services as special master, is almost done with the grid he is devising, according to lawyers for the fire victims.

McGovern has declined to discuss his plan. But the fire victims, in letters from their lawyers, have been told that for the victims who died, McGovern’s grid will consist of “a point system” that will factor in such things as the victim’s age, marital status, education, number and ages of children and annual income. The amount each injured victim will receive will be based on severity of injury and may be based in part on number of days of hospitalization.

One hundred people died in the Feb. 20, 2003, fire, and more than 200 others were injured. Prosecutors have said there were 458 people at the club when the fire broke out.

The victims alleged in their lawsuits that the Town of West Warwick should be held liable for money damages because no one delegated to inspect the wood-frame nightclub at 211 Cowesett Ave. ever cited its owners, Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, for the highly flammable polyurethane foam they installed as soundproofing. The town was also alleged to be negligent for failing to clamp down on overcrowding at the nightclub and for allowing pyrotechnics to be used inside the club without a permit.

The victims alleged that the town allowed “a public nuisance and a fire hazard to exist” at The Station “for an unreasonable period of time” and that it failed to provide “sufficient security and fire protection for a function at which they knew or should have known large numbers of people would be in attendance.”

The lawsuits also assert that the town knew that “numerous dangerous conditions and fire hazards” existed at the nightclub but failed to remedy those conditions or ordered them to be remedied. They fault the town for “failing to protect members of the public for the foreseeable risk of serious injury or death at The Station” and for “failing to adequately oversee, supervise, monitor, evaluate, train and/or retrain those performing inspections of The Station.”

The lawsuits contend that “the egregious negligence of the Town of West Warwick through Denis Larocque, and/or Anthony Bettencourt and/or Stephen D. Murray (or other agents, servants and employees) was a proximate cause of plaintiffs’ deaths and injuries.”

Larocque, who recently retired with a disability pension from the town, told investigators that he never noticed the foam during his inspections.

The lawsuits claim that Murray also failed to cite the club owners for the foam or order its removal and that he failed to enforce occupancy restrictions and exit requirements. Murray told investigators a few days after the fire that he never noticed the foam that lined the walls and ceiling of The Station when he accompanied Larocque for an inspection there in November 2002.

Bettencourt was named as a defendant because, the victims alleged, he “negligently failed to use reasonable care in carrying out his duties, failed to monitor and enforce occupancy restrictions and permitted dangerous and unlawful overcrowding of the premises.” The victims’ lawyers also claim that Bettencourt should have blocked Great White’s use of fireworks inside The Station because they were set off without the required permit.

The claims against the state and Owens mirror those made against the West Warwick defendants. The lawsuits allege that Owens, as fire marshal for the state, was responsible for inspecting commercial structures such The Station and for enforcing the state’s fire and building code laws, yet failed to do so. The victims contended that Owens failed to enforce occupancy restrictions and exit requirements at The Station and that he also failed “to discover and order remedied highly flammable interior finish within the building.” The lawsuits also allege that Owens failed “to properly train and supervise state personnel responsible for enforcing the fire safety laws of Rhode Island.”

All nightclubs in Rhode Island are subject to annual inspections. The state fire marshal’s office deputizes fire personnel in the state’s cities and towns to perform such inspections. The inspectors review whether establishments are complying with fire and safety codes. Inspectors look at a range of provisions, including available exits and fire extinguishers, building capacities, and decorative and acoustical material.

According to the Rhode Island Health and Safety Code, all decorative and acoustical material must be flame resistant. The business owners must provide the inspectors with documentation that the materials meet the flame-spread ratings set by the National Fire Protection Association. When in doubt, the material is subject to a field test.

The Derderians, who remain as defendants in the victims’ civil lawsuits, have filed for bankruptcy protection. The only payments that the victims might be able to recoup from them in a settlement are the proceeds of a property insurance policy on the building, which would yield less than $1 million if the bankruptcy court approves its release.

The brothers each pleaded no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter — one count for each person who died in the fire. Michael Derderian was sentenced to four years at the Adult Correctional Institutions; Jeffrey Derderian received a sentence of community service.

Daniel M. Biechele, the former tour manager for Great White who set off the pyrotechnics that sparked the deadly fire, pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to four years at the ACI and has been paroled.Settlement offers

Proposed payouts still require court approval

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tbreton@projo.com