GREAT WHITE Fire: Station Club Owners Ordered To Continue Payments

Lynn Arditi of The Providence Journal has issued the following report:

The Rhode Island Supreme Court [Thursday] said it will consider on May 31 whether to hear an appeal by the owners of The Station nightclub, who claim that they should not be held personally liable for more than $200,000 in workers' compensation claims from the families of four nightclub employees killed in the fire on Feb. 20, 2003.

The Supreme Court also ordered nightclub owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian to refrain from taking any actions that would "alienate funds or assets or expend any funds or assets save in the ordinary course of business" while the case is pending.

The order said the Derderians must continue to make the "voluntary payments" they've made so far to the victims' families, but said those payments "will not be considered an adequate response to the liability of Derco LLC."

The four workers killed in the blaze were bouncer Tracy F. King, 39; waitress Dina Ann DeMaio, 30; guitarist Steven R. Mancini, 39; and his wife, Andrea Louise Jacavone Mancini, 28.

Lawyers representing the Derderians have said that their clients want to help the families but do not have the resources to pay the full amount of benefits.

The Derderians have been sending the families checks — of $125 or more per month — since April 1, according to lawyers representing the victims' families.

"My clients got two checks," said Andrew Caslowitz, a lawyer who represents the King family. The checks amounted to "a little more" than $125 apiece, he said, declining to be more specific.

A state Workers' Compensation Court judge has ruled that the King family, which includes three boys, is entitled to workers' compensation benefits that come to approximately $102,539.

Read the rest of the article at The Providence Journal (free registration required).