Rhode Island Nightclub Owners Still Owe $1M Workers’ Comp Penalty

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A Rhode Island judge is questioning why the owners of a nightclub where 100 people died in a fire in 2003 still haven’t paid a $1 million penalty for failing to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

The Providence Journal reports that Chief Judge George Healy Jr. of the state Workers’ Compensation Court has summoned lawyers for Station nightclub owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian to a Feb. 4 meeting.

The $1 million penalty was assessed more than eight years ago.

The Derderians’ lawyer and state officials say they’re still waiting for a decision in the Derderians’ appeal of the penalty. A three-judge panel heard arguments in the appeal in 2005.

A state judiciary spokesman says the appeal stalled because court officials were never notified that the Derderians’ bankruptcy cases were over.