The Great White settlement payout is interesting....

R.I.P. Jack Russell

Jack Russell had one of the greatest voices of the 80′s. After the Station fire that killed 100 concertgoers, he was never the same. Luckily, there was a huge civil payout to the victims families. Pretty interesting to see who contributed. It cost Jack a million dollars....


The Station nightclub fire occurred on the evening of February 20, 2003, in Rhode Island.  Jack Russel’s Great White, not the original band, went on at 11p, pyro caught the ceiling on fire and the rest is tragic.

Of the 462 people in the building for the concert, 100 were killed, 230 were injured

Civil settlements[edit]

As of September 2008, at least $115 million in settlement agreements had been paid, or offered, to the victims or their families by various defendants:

  • In September 2008, The Jack Russell Tour Group Inc. offered $1 million in a settlement to survivors and victims’ relatives,[65] the maximum allowed under the band’s insurance plan.[66]
  • Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian reached a settlement of $813,000 with survivors and victims’ families in September 2008.[67]
  • The State of Rhode Island and the town of West Warwick agreed to pay $10 million as a settlement.[68]
  • Sealed Air Corporation agreed to pay $25 million as a settlement. Victims’ lawyers said that Sealed Air made polyethylene foam that had been installed at the Station in 1996, which produced toxic gas when it burned during the fire.[69]
  • In February 2008, Providence television station WPRI-TV and their then-owners LIN TV made an out-of-court settlement of $30 million as a result of the claim that their video journalist Brian Butler was said to be obstructing escape and not sufficiently helping people exit.[70]
  • In March 2008, JBL Speakers settled out of court for $815,000. JBL was accused of using flammable foam inside their speakers. The company denied any wrongdoing.[71]
  • Anheuser-Busch has offered $5 million.[72] McLaughlin & Moran, Anheuser-Busch’s distributor, has offered $16 million.[72]
  • Home Depot and Polar Industries, Inc. (a Connecticut-based insulation company) made a settlement offer of $5 million.[73]
  • Providence radio station WHJY-FM promoted the show, which was emcee’d by its DJ, Mike “The Doctor” Gonsalves (who was one of the casualties that night). Clear Channel Broadcasting, WHJY’s parent company, paid a settlement of $22 million in February 2008.[74]
  • American Foam Corporation, who sold the insulation to The Station nightclub, agreed in 2008 to pay $6.3 million to settle lawsuits relating to the fire.[75]