Court upholds $1M fine in RI nightclub fire case

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A workers' compensation court has upheld a $1 million fine against the owners of a Rhode Island nightclub where 100 people died in a 2003 fire.

A three-judge panel of the court on Friday upheld the decision against Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, who were fined because they failed to carry workers' compensation insurance at The Station nightclub in West Warwick on Feb. 20, 2003.

Four employees died in the fire, which was started when a rock band's pyrotechnics set fire to flammable foam that lined the inside of the club.

The brothers declared bankruptcy after the fire, but a federal bankruptcy judge said the fine amounted to a penalty and could not be discharged under bankruptcy law.

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