Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE. R.I. -- The Station nightclub civil cases brought by those who lost loved ones or were injured in the catastrophic fire there are inching towards completion.

Though it appears that it will still be months before any of the victims receive any money from the $176 million settlement fund that is being established for the payouts, much progress is being made to wrap up the cases, lawyer Mark Mandell reported today in a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin.

Currently, a court-appointed neutral verification expert is in Rhode Island with a team of workers, including two registered nurses, combing through claim forms and medical records submitted by the fire victims and their family members to calculate how much money each will get. The expert, Jeffrey Dahl, of Faribault, Minn., is expected to complete this work -- traveling with his team of workers from law firm to law firm -- within 30 days, Mandell reported.

Dahl's team will calculate how many points each plaintiff will get and those calculations will be factored into a grid devised by a special master who has come up with a system for awarding of damages. None of the victims knows at this point exactly how much they will receive. Those who were most badly burned in the fire and had the highest medical bills could end up getting more than those who lost a family member in the fire. But before anyone gets any money, attorneys' fees and expenses incurred by the victims' lawyers will be subtracted, as will expenses incurred by the special master, Duke University law professor Francis E. McGovern, who has donated his services for free.

Mandell told Martin Tuesday that progress is also being made to set up a trust fund for the settlement proceeds. But the administrator, Massachusetts lawyer Paul Finn, must wait to finish his work until both sides agree upon a release form that the victims will have to sign before getting any of the settlement money.

Still to be decided is the issue of guardians for the minor plaintiffs. The minors who will get money need to be represented by one or more guardians as their claims make their way through the settlement process.

Mandell told the court that the victims are in great need of money and that the lawyers are working as diligently as they can to wrap up the settlements.

Martin scheduled the next status conference in the fire cases for 2 p.m. April 7.

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