Posted on 03/07/2003 3:09:20 PM PST by TLBSHOW
Great White Testifies, Gets Sued
Tuesday was a busy day for Great White--and the band's lawyers.
Members of the '80s heavy metal outfit finally began testifying before a Rhode Island grand jury and faced the first of what is likely many wrongful-death lawsuits blaming the band in part for the deadly nightclub fire two weeks ago.
The families of two of the victims are suing both Great White and club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, claiming they're responsible for the inferno that killed 98 people and injured close to 200--one of the worst blazes in the U.S. in more than 40 years.
The suit was filed in Providence Superior Court by the relatives of 33-year-old Tina Ayer of Warwick, Rhode Island, and 46-year-old Donald Rodriques of Fall River, Massachusetts, to make up for the lost income that both working parents would have provided for their kids.
"We had to file early to protect the monetary interests of the children," says co-counsel Karen Alegria of Brian Cunha & Associates. "Obviously there's going to be limited funds, considering this tragedy, and we believe it was our duty to file on behalf of them."
Rhode Island law prohibits a suit from specifying an exact damage amount, but the firm says it plans to seek more than $1 million for each for the families.
"We'll see what the court finds just," says Alegria. "The size of this tragedy is unbelievable. These children have lost quite a bit."
Lead plaintiff's attorney Brian Cunha says he expected four more families to join the litigation by week's end and estimated that an additional 30 families were considering doing the same.
Also named as defendants were the town of West Warwick, local fire inspector Denis Larocque and American Foam Corp., which sold the polyurethane foam used for soundproofing and believed by investigators to be the fuel of the fast-spreading February 20 fire, which was apparently touched off by the band's pyrotechnics.
In their suit, the families fault the Derderians for failing to properly "maintain, inspect and supervise" the soundproofing foam that was installed a year and a half earlier and failing to obtain required permits to use pyrotechnics inside the venue.
The suit also claims the town of West Warwick was negligent for issuing a license to the defendants and failing to recognize that the foam was not flame retardant and not noting several emergency light bulbs were not working properly during a routine inspection of the Station club late last year.
Rhode Island state representative Tim Williamson, also the state solicitor, tells the Associated Press the lawsuit's filing was a little hasty considering the probe by fire investigators and the grand jury was still ongoing.
"It seems the attorneys are being opportunistic," says Williamson. "It doesn't put these attorneys' clients in any better position by filing first."
Fire experts Tuesday also jumped to the defense of Larocque--the only fire inspector in West Warwick--arguing that in a city of 30,000, his department was vastly understaffed.
Great White's guitarist Mark Kendall, meanwhile, told Boston's WBZ-TV that he testified for the first time on Tuesday before the grand jury, which is meeting to review evidence and determine whether or not criminal charges should be filed. Both Kendall and bassist David Filice were reportedly seen at the National Guard facility in East Greenwich where the hearing took place.
The key issue for the panel is whether or not the Station's owners gave Great White permission to set off the pyrotechnics to launch the band's set.
The so-called sparklers have been blamed for accidentally igniting egg-crate foam behind the stage used for soundproofing, which fire experts determined to be 20 times more flammable than wood and emitted a noxious black smoke which can cause severe smoke inhalation and impair visibility. The resulting blaze spread so quickly it engulfed the venue within three minutes, trapping hundreds inside.
Both the rockers and the Derderians have fingered each other for the tragedy. Great White's attorney, Ed McPherson, insisted the brothers approved the use of fireworks, while the owners flatly deny it and insisted that they had no idea how hazardous the soundproofing material was. The fire inspector's report also failed to note the danger of the foam.
If indicted, the parties could face up anywhere from involuntary manslaughter to second-degree murder charge.
Lead singer Jack Russell's lawyer, however, let it be known last week that he was looking for an immunity deal for his client in exchange for the rocker's testimony. Still no word whether prosecutors have agreed to it.
McPherson's office did not return phone calls seeking comment, but he has indicated in previous interviews that the band planned to cooperate fully with authorities.
This is the only way they are going to get CASH, and its going to be years from now.
Very sad!
Now, for one night of stupidity, they're going to lose the whole twelve hundred bucks.
They're going to be bankrupt regardless, so what's the diff?
Why would prosecutors agree to something like this? From my readings on this tragedy, Russell seems to be at the top of the culpability list.
Their biggest mistake was using huge quantites of packing foam for soundproofing. The club bought 112 cubic feet of foam, which I'd guess had a density of about 1kg/cuft (maybe higher). Since polyurethane foam has a heat of combustion of 18kJ/g, that means there were about 2023MJ of heat produced by the foam alone.
By comparison, gasoline has a heat of combustion of about 43kJ/g. That much heat would take about 47kg, or 15.6 gallons of gasoline to produce.
Fifteen gallons of gasoline going up in a building that size would likely incinerate everything inside, even if no other parts of the building were flammable. Of course, the fact that the rest of the building was flammable just made things worse.
Dear God - why?? He didn't set up the pyros, didn't ignite them, didn't put highly flammable foam on the walls...what did he do? I will NEVER understand some of you guys!
If you'd like, I can go and hunt that article down. LOL...it might take me a little while.
Part of the issue, I think, is that there should have been no way for even those illegal fireworks to have caused the level of carnage that occurred.
Imagine if someone had rammed a Yugo into One World Trade Center and the entire building collapsed as a result. Would you pin all of the blame on the driver, or would you put some on the design of the building? [nb: given how long the WTCs remained standing after the airplane hits, a Yugo obviously wouldn't have done that much damage].
Although the gerbs were used illegally, they represent a fairly low-level ignition source. Were the back walls of the stage not coated with the equivalent of fifteen gallons of gasoline, there would be no way for the gerbs to have caused the whole place to be aflame in under three minutes.
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