Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Tracy Breton, Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Lawyers for the victims of The Station nightclub fire are hoping to distribute the large pool of settlement money that has been offered to their clients by the end of this year, according to letters some of the victims have received in recent weeks.

Although some of the parties that lawyers consider most culpable have yet to enter into settlements, lawyers for those killed and injured as a result of the fire are anticipating that the civil lawsuits pending in U.S. District Court can be wrapped up during the next several months, without a trial. They've told clients that their "goal" is to distribute the proceeds by the end of December.

To date, close to $155 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 as well as sponsors of the Great White show, among them, the beer manufacturer Anheuser-Busch.

Lawyers for the fire victims say that Duke University Law Prof. Francis E. McGovern, the court-appointed special master who is devising a formula to determine how much each plaintiff will get from the settlement proceeds, is almost done with the grid. Exactly what he will propose remains a secret because McGovern has denied requests for interviews.

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" which will factor in such things as the victim's age, marital status, education, number and ages of children and annual income. As for the victims who suffered physical and/or psychological injuries, the amounts will probably vary, based on severity of injury, days of hospitalization and amount of unreimbursed medical bills, predicted Kenneth R. Feinberg, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who served as special master in the taxpayer-financed 9/11 Compensation Fund and more recently for the compensation fund set up for the Virginia Tech shootings.

In a federal court hearing last November, Providence lawyer Mark Mandell, who represents more than 100 of the fire victims, told U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux that McGovern planned to meet with every plaintiff who is part of the lawsuit, either individually or in small groups. He will review each person's medical records and treatment received for both the living and the dead, consider the number of surgeries, percentage of body burns, length of hospitalization and whether he or she suffered first-, second- or third-degree burns. He'll develop "categories of injuries" and "severity differentials," Mandell told the court.

Read our full story on the work of the special master Sunday on projo.com and in The Providence Sunday Journal

 Tags  Station fire West Warwick

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