$20 million payment agreed in Rhode Island fire

BOSTON (Reuters) - The state of Rhode Island and the town of West Warwick have agreed to pay $20 million to victims of a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed more than 100 people, the latest in a string of settlements that total roughly $175 million.

Court papers filed on Monday showed that a settlement in principle has been reached, five years after one of the deadliest blazes in U.S. history raced through The Station nightclub. More than 200 people were injured.

The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, must be approved by the court and all victims in the case. The state and the town are each paying half the settlement amount.

Victims of the fire charged that the town was negligent because the small, wooden nightclub was overcrowded on February 20, 2003, when sparks from rock band Great White's fireworks show ignited the club's highly flammable polyurethane foam sound insulation.

Nearly a third of the crowd, which prosecutors put at 458, were trapped inside the burning building.

The victims also charged that the state's fire marshal, who is responsible for inspecting commercial structures, failed to enforce the state's occupancy rules or ensure that potential fire hazards be repaired.

The club's owners, brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, have pleaded no contest to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)