Station fire victims and family may not get payments until next year
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, Friday, September 4, 2009
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — A lawyer representing victims of The Station nightclub fire gave no indication Thursday as to when those who suffered injuries or lost loved ones in the fire will get their settlement money. But it’s looking more like it might not be until next year.
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Mandell told U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin at a status conference that there’s been an “enormous amount of work that’s been ongoing,” but that it’s been “an enormously complex step-by-step process.” Several things still have to be done before the fire victims get their money, he told the court.
It’s unclear how long it will take, but a few of the parties that have agreed to contribute to the $176-million settlement pool have written agreements giving them 90 days to pay up once the court gives its final approval to the individual settlements. And the court intends to review each of the settlement agreements –– more than 300 in all –– and give anyone who has an objection the right to be heard.
Sixty-five defendants, including the State of Rhode Island and the Town of West Warwick, have offered a total of $176 million to settle federal civil suits 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.
All of those who sued for money damages have now been told what their gross payments will be, based on a grid devised by a court-appointed special master. But no reference was made to the amounts at Thursday’s hearing. The figures don’t represent what the plaintiffs will actually get because each of them will have to pay a portion of their settlement to cover attorneys’ fees and expenses to litigate the mass-tort case, which has been going on in U.S. District Court here for five years.
In court Thursday, Mandell outlined for Martin what remains to be done before the payouts can be made:
•A lawyer who has been appointed a special master must finish reviewing proposed settlements for the minors and complete interviews with their parents or guardians. Anyone who has an objection to the amount allocated to a minor would have a right to a hearing.
•A trust fund must be created and funded with the settlement proceeds.
•Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux, who is presiding over the case, must determine that all of the settlement agreements were made in good faith. He has already done this for several of the defendants.
•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.
Mandell said the victims’ lawyers are taking steps to streamline that process and make sure “it is done as efficiently and quickly as possible.”
The next status conference in the case is scheduled for Sept. 24.