:( that is so sad. the thing is a lot of clubs and places are like that, but the owners never do anything about it beause they think it will never happen to them.. but when it does.. its just sad :( :(

The attorneys are already hedging the issues. City says the club's second floor was ordered closed. Club owner's argue that only the second level of the second floor - box seats - was closed. BS detector goes bonk.

Oh, and only 15 are confirmed dead. Not that I'd wish it were higher, just saying 21 was an over-estimate.

Clarification, they weren't closed under a court order but were closed by order of the Fire Marshall.

I saw a local fire chief telling a news crew that the owner "knew damn well they were not to be open."

Yeah, Ronn, I saw that, too. He was plenty upset, as I would be. It is terrible that this one man's greed has been the death of so many. :(

Guys, like it or not I got myself a full hour of this crap on the local news last night.

There is no question they were allowed to have the first floor open. The issue is the second floor dance floor.

The fire marshall is covering his, and the city's ass. The last fire marshall inspection was in OCtober, and they found that the closed area (whichever it turns out to be) *was not* open.

Now, the idiot reporter on the news said "There has been no inspection since then" as if that implies something wrong on the city's part. Jez, how often do they want little bureaons running around poking their nose in private businesses? October was plenty recent, believe me. And the area was simply not allowed to be opened until they got it up to code.

But, the lawsuits started flying this morning, and several plaintiffs are already filing suit. The club owners likely don't have enough $$$$ to compensate the families for what juries are likely to award. So, the city will also be sued: they will claim it was, in part, the city's fault.

Now, this is a BS claim, but I just wanted to spell out why the Fire Marshall's words are very limited, very dictated by city lawyers, and very much BS on this issue.

Just so you know, Cook County averages some of the highest verdicts in the nation, especially with black jurors, and this event happened to occur in a black neighborhood at an almost all black club. I point these statistics (not opinions or prejudice, mind you) out because it is relevant in that the city is *very* concerned about potential jury verdicts slamming it for VERY high dollar amounts.