GREAT WHITE - Rhode Island Judge OKs $176 Million Settlement In Deadly Club Fire
January 7, 2010, 14 years ago
Eric Tucker from The Associated Press is reporting:
A federal judge overseeing lawsuits stemming from a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people endorsed a $176 million settlement Thursday, bringing survivors and victims' relatives closer to receiving money and moving years of arduous legal wrangling toward a final resolution.
Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux also authorized the creation of a trust fund to hold the settlement money for the more than 300 people who sued after the 2003 fire at The Station nightclub.
"I think this is a red-letter day for The Station fire case," Lagueux said. "This is a win-win-win situation."The judge approved the settlement as well as formulas for determining how the money is to be distributed among the survivors and relatives of those killed.
Survivors who were most severely injured stand to receive the largest shares - in some cases, several million dollars. The dozens of children whose parents were killed or injured will also be compensated. Those amounts vary widely based on whether the parent died or was injured and on the age of the child at the time the fire occurred.
Victims could start receiving their money within months. Citizens Bank and Paul Finn, a Massachusetts lawyer and mediator, were appointed co-trustees of the fund.
The February 20, 2003, fire at the club in West Warwick began when a pyrotechnics display used at the start of a concert by the 1980s rock band GREAT WHITE set ablaze soundproofing foam around the stage. Besides the fatalities, the blaze caused a panicked rush toward the front exit and more than 200 people were injured.
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