GREAT WHITE Fire: Owners of Station Nightclub Announce Bankruptcy Filing

September 23, 2005

The Associated Press has issued the following report:

The owners of a nightclub where 100 people died in a 2003 fire announced Friday (Sept. 23) that they and their company, DERCO LLC, have filed for bankruptcy.

Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, owners of The Station nightclub in West Warwick, said in a joint statement that they were "unable to satisfy all of our present creditors or our potential future creditors" and had filed a petition for relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rhode Island.

"It has been always been a question of when and not if," her clients would file for bankruptcy, said Kathleen Hagerty, a lawyer for the Derderians.

"It's clear that what occurred ... has significantly impacted not only their ability to make a living but the status of their finances," she said.

The filing comes exactly one week before the Derderians were to stand trial in Workers' Compensation Court on charges that they failed to make full payments to the families of four workers killed in the Feb. 20, 2003 fire.

Jeff Pine, a lawyer for Jeffrey Derderian, said a motion regarding the bankruptcy filing would be filed with the workers compensation court and he believed those proceedings would be rendered moot.

The Derderians are awaiting trial on involuntary manslaughter charges and have been sued in federal court by the survivors of the fire and relatives of the victims.

"They're being charged as criminals on one hand and being assessed unprecedented penalties on the civil side," Pine said. "So they've had to fight a lot of battles in a lot of different forums. (Bankruptcy) is one of the results."

The Station burned to the ground during a concert by the 1980s rock band GREAT WHITE. The fire was sparked by a pyrotechnics display that ignited flammable foam lining the club's walls and ceiling. The band's former tour manager, Dan Biechele, who lit the pyrotechnics, is also charged with involuntary manslaughter.

"While we realize no amount of money could ever erase the injuries suffered or the heartache of loss, we hope that in some small way our insurance and our continued payments will benefit those affected," the Derderians' statement read.

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