Judge approves partial settlement of $1.5M in nightclub stampede

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Wire Services CHICAGO (AP) - A Cook County judge approved a partial settlement of $1.5 million to be paid to the families of 21 people killed in a 2003 nightclub stampede in Chicago, attorneys for both sides announced Thursday. Under the settlement approved Wednesday by Circuit Court Judge Kathy M. Flanagan, the owners of the defunct E2 nightclub and the building where the club was located agreed to pay the money into a fund established for the plaintiffs, and were dismissed as defendants in the continuing civil litigation. Agreeing to the settlement were club owners Calvin Hollins and Dwain Kyles and building owner Lesly Benodin, said Melvin Brooks, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys. Brooks noted that Kyles; Hollins; Hollins' son, Calvin Hollins III; and a fourth man, party promoter Marco Flores, still face criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 17, 2003, stampede. All four have pleaded not guilty. Authorities say the disaster occurred when someone used pepper spray to break up a fight at a dance party featuring DJ Vaughn Woods of Chicago radio station WGCI-FM. Patrons fled for the doors, crushing each other on a narrow staircase; the force of the bodies against the doors prevented them from being opened. In addition to the 21 deaths, 57 people were injured. The grand jury indictment said the owners willfully packed the club with about 1,200 people on the night of the stampede, roughly five times its capacity of 240. A number of individuals and corporations still remain as defendants in the civil actions filed in the case, Brooks said. They include Flores, the party promoter, and his company, Envy Productions, several men who were working security on the night of the stampede, Woods, WGCI, and its parent corporation, Clear Channel Communications. The City of Chicago is also a defendant for allegedly failing to ensure the building was safe, but Brooks said that phase of the lawsuit was under review by an appellate panel. The city's legal department has contended that the club owner and operator were responsible. Brooks said the agreement was worked out in February, but delayed when attorneys for Clear Channel objected and launched a lengthy discovery process targeting the defendants who had elected to settle. Clear Channel particularly challenged the "good faith" of building owner Benodin, who unlike Kyles and Hollins, had not filed for bankruptcy. The settling defendants said there was conjecture by Clear Channel that Benodin was "buying out" for too small a price. But Flanagan wrote that: "Clearly the amount of the settlement is no indication whatsoever of bad faith. It represents the best amount available under extraordinarily poor circumstances." Ed Grasse, one of the attorneys for the settling defendants, said he was pleased Flanagan approved the settlement. "We're very happy to get this piece of the litigation over with and give some closure to the families," Grasse said. © Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.