An attorney representing the relatives of two people killed in the Feb. 20 fire at a Rhode Island nightclub has filed what is believed to be the first wrongful death lawsuit in the case. Ninety-eight people were killed and more than 180 others were injured when a blaze swept through The Station nightclub in West Warwick shortly after the 80's rock band Great White began performing. Investigators believe the group's pyrotechnics set fire to soundproof foam insulation covering the club's walls.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Providence Superior Court, names 14 defendants, including the club's owners, Michael and Jeffrey Derderian; members of Great White and its management company, Manic Music Inc.; American Foam Corporation, which sold the flammable foam, and West Warwick Fire Inspector Denis Larocque.
Also on Tuesday, Great White guitarist Mark Kendall met with a grand jury at a National Guard facility in East Greenwich to briefly testify. Members of the band insist Great White's tour manager, Dan Biechele, received permission for pyrotechnics a week before the show. The club's owners, however, say the band neither asked nor received permission for fireworks.