Notable Wrongful Death Lawsuits

The Nightclub Fire in Providence, R.I.

Who can forget that tragic night in February of 2003 when 100 people were killed at a concert at The Station nightclub due to a fire. The band Great White was performing and used pyrotechnics in their act. Apparently the pyrotechnics caught the soundproofing on fire starting the blazing inferno.

Some of the families filed a lawsuit against WPRI-TV and Brian Butler, a cameraman for the television station claiming that Mr. Butler had blocked one of the exits while filming the fire thus slowing down the crowd of people trying to get out of the burning building. 

This case settled for $30 million dollars. The money of this settlement will go to the people who survived the fire and the relatives of those that died during this tragic event.

Several survivors and relatives of the people who lost their lives also filed a claim against Anheuser-Busch and McLaughlin & Moran who had sponsored the concert.  This lawsuit settled for $21 million dollars.

The Staten Island Ferry Case

This case came about because one of the ferry captains driving a Staten Island ferry blacked out and crashed into one of the maintenance docks. In this crash, 52-year-old Pio Canini died. Mr. Canini’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Staten Island.  The Canini family settled this lawsuit for $1.5 million dollars.

The O.J. Simpson Case

Perhaps the most famous wrongful death lawsuit in recent history was filed by the families of Ron Goldman and Nichole Simpson against O.J. Simpson.  The lawsuit alleged that O.J. Simpson was liable for the deaths of Mr. Goldman and Ms. Simpson.  The verdict in this case was $33.5 million dollars. The families are still fighting to collect all the money as a result of this lawsuit.