Читать книгу THE LIFEBOAT STRATEGY - Mark Nestmann - Страница 7

In every legal dispute, lawyers look for “deep pockets” to sue. A textbook example of this phenomenon occurred in 2003, when fire raced through the Rhode Island Station nightclub, killing 100 people and injuring more than 200. The fire started when the manager of the band playing at the club set off fireworks and other pyrotechnics onstage. The open flames ignited soundproofing foam, and the fire quickly spread throughout the club.

In the blizzard of lawsuits that followed, members of the band that set off the fire paid out $1 million. The owners of The Station reached an $813,000 settlement. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

• Beer sponsor Anheuser-Busch and a local beer distributor were sued because they sold beer and promoted the nightclub. They paid out $21 million.

• Sealed Air, a company that manufactures polyethylene foam for packaging material, was sued because lawyers alleged that such foam in the soundproofing contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. However, lawyers presented no evidence that Sealed Air manufactured the foam used in the club. In addition, Sealed Air's foam is designed for packaging, not for soundproofing. Nonetheless, the company paid out a $25 million settlement.

• Home Depot was sued for not warning of the potential hazards of the insulation they sold the club, despite the fact that the insulation Home Depot sold is different from the foam ignited by the pyrotechnics. Home Depot paid $5 million to make the lawyers go away.

• A television station that filmed the fire paid out $30 million.

• The state of Rhode Island and the town of West Warwick agreed to a $10 million settlement.

• The bus company that provided transportation for the band paid out $500,000, because it transported the fireworks

• The manufacturer of the speakers used at the club settled for $815,000. Lawyers accused it of using flammable foam inside their speakers.

Other defendants included fire inspectors, along with the architect who designed the building 40 years ago, along with the construction company that built it.

In all, the victims of this tragedy and their families received about $175 million. Yet, those individuals most responsible for it—the nightclub owner and the band—paid only about 1% of this amount. Companies that only had remote connections to the calamity paid out the remainder.10