Who to sue?

Here's another ludicrious Stella Award:
The tragic 20 February 2003 fire at the Station Nightclub in West
Warwick, R.I., killed 96 people and injured more than 200. It was a
stupid stunt: the band playing that night set off fireworks, setting fire
to soundproofing foam. With the nightclub's insurance maxed out and no
one else to turn to for the expected $1 billion of liability, lawyers in
the case sued anyone they could think of in their search for deep pockets
to pick. One unlikely victim of the tactic was Clear Channel
Communications, which owns a radio station in the area, on the basis that
they helped promote the event. In February, Clear Channel announced a
tentative $22 million settlement with survivors and the families of those
killed. Rhode Island's "joint and several liability" put Clear Channel on
the hook; as long as lawyers could show just the tiniest involvement by
the company, it ended up having to pay even though they had no part in
the fire.

Other deep pockets included TV station WPRI, which was ironically on
the scene to do a story on the dangers of nightclubs when the fire broke
out, which paid $30 million on the theory that their cameraman's
equipment blocked an exit. JBL Speakers paid $815,000 to settle a charge
that its speakers had flammable foam in them; beer maker Anheuser-Busch
($5 million) and its local distributor ($16 million) because their beer
was sold at the nightclub; Sealed Air Corp. paid $16 million, since its
foam was used for soundproofing, even though the foam was not rated for
such a purpose; the State of Rhode Island, $10 million, and the city
where the fire occurred, $10 million, for who-knows-what reason; and Home
Depot (amount unknown), where the foam was purchased. There were also
criminal charges in the case; the band's manager and the nightclub's
owners pleaded guilty and no-contest, respectively, to manslaughter
charges.

SOURCES:

1) "Clear Channel, Fire Victims OK $22M Deal", Associated Press, 14
February 2008
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?108

2) "The Station Nightclub Fire", Wikipedia, retrieved 27 August 2007