Family members of Tina Ayer and Donald Roderiques, two of the ninety-eight people killed in the February 20th fire at Rhode Island's Station nightclub, filed wrongful death suits in Providence Superior Court yesterday. The claims name both Great White, whose pyrotechnics set off the blaze, and the club's owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian.

Also named as defendants in the suit were the town of West Warwick, where the Station is located, the American Foam Corp., which made the packing foam the nightclub installed for soundproofing, a fire inspector who passed the club on an inspection last year and the man who ignited the pyrotechnics. As many as thirty families are expected to join the litigation.

A grand jury convened in Rhode Island last week to investigate the possibility of criminal wrongdoing. Yesterday, Great White guitarist Mark Kendall testified.

The members of Great White have maintained that they had permission from club owners to set off the sparklers, but the owners have denied that claim.

CHRISTINA SARACENO
(March 5, 2003)