$22m settlement in Great White nightclub fire case

Broadcasting giant Clear Channel has reached a tentative $22 million settlement relating to a deadly 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire, the Associated Press reports. One hundred people were killed and 200 more injured when fire broke out during a performance by rock band Great White at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on February 20th, 2003. The fire started when the band's pyrotechnics ignited flammable soundproofing around the stage.

Clear Channel was sued because one of its radio stations had sponsored the concert. So far, more than $70 million in settlement money has been offered to survivors and families of the victims.

Brothers Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, who owned the club, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in 2006. The Great White road manager who lighted the pyrotechnics pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and was sentenced to four years in prison in May 2006. He's set to be paroled next month, according to the New York Times.
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