GREAT WHITE: Office Flood Puts Criminal Case Proceedings On Hold

June 21, 2005

The Associated Press has issued the following report:

Legal proceedings in the Station nightclub fire criminal case will be delayed for at least two months because of a flood in one of the defense lawyer's offices.

The state Supreme Court granted a request for a two-month delay on Monday, a day after a burst pipe caused water damage to Kathleen Hagerty's Warwick law office. The order delays proceedings in the Station fire criminal and workers compensation cases, which are both in state court, until Aug. 20.

Hagerty's law firm, Flaherty & Lawrence, said the office could not be used, and would likely be temporarily relocated, because of the water damage.

Hagerty represents Michael Derderian, who along with his brother, Jeffrey, owned the West Warwick nightclub where 100 people died in a Feb. 20, 2003 fire.

The Derderians and Dan Biechele, the tour manager for the rock band GREAT WHITE, whose pyrotechnics display sparked the deadly blaze, each face 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter. All three men have pleaded innocent.

Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan, who is presiding over the manslaughter case, has said the trial could begin as soon as January. It was not immediately clear whether the start of the trial would be delayed.

The three men are named with several other parties in a civil suit in federal court.

Hagerty did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

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