GREAT WHITE: Families Look To Lawsuit For Accountability In Nightclub Fire

September 26, 2006

The Associated Press reports:

Now that the criminal case stemming from The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island is ending, the families of some of the 100 people killed in the blaze are looking to a massive civil case for accountability.

The federal lawsuit, filed by nearly 300 people who were injured or lost loved ones in the fire, names dozens of defendants, including everyone from the rock band GREAT WHITE, whose pyrotechnic display sparked the fire, to a salesman for the company that sold flammable polyurethane foam used as soundproofing.

James Gahan, whose 21-year-old son, Jimmy, died in the fire, said he is hoping the civil case will assign responsibility to everyone who contributed to the tragedy.

"If the criminal system is not going to follow through and make them accountable, the only thing we have left is the civil system," Gahan said.

The fire at the West Warwick, R.I., nightclub was sparked by pyrotechnics that ignited the foam during a concert by GREAT WHITE on Feb. 20, 2003. It was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S history.

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