Should The FEDERAL Govt. Compensate the Victims of the RI Nightclub Disaster?

[ralph124c]

I just saw that there was an attempt to tack some compensation funds onto a House Bill (forget the number). It looks like hundreds of lawsuits will be filed (including 2 federal lawsuits today-naming the State Fire Marshal and others as defendents).
As I noted in an earlier thread, lotsa lawsuits, with very little ability to pay! I had earlier argued that a reasonable solution to this disaster might be a state indemnification of claims, leading to removing all of the paperwork from the courts..it looks like the Fedral government might go for something like this.
I know that such an action would be unpopular, because this would remove the chance of fees from the lawyers..but it seems to me that there is no other way to:
-compensate the victims
-prevent the total shutdown of the RI court systems
Is there a precedent for this? Sept. 11 comes to mind, but my question is: is it better to take a cash settlement than take the risk of a lawsuit?
I just don't see that any of the defendents (the Dederians, town of W. Warwick, or the fire marshall) have ANY capacity to pay the claims!
What would Jesus do?:confused:

[Robb]

I know that such an action would be unpopular, because this would remove the chance of fees from the lawyers..
Did you miss the posts in the last thread that advanced other reasons against a general indemnity?

prevent the total shutdown of the RI court systems
Do you have a cite that tells us that so few cases will shut down the Rhode Island court system?

is it better to take a cash settlement than take the risk of a lawsuit?
The answer to this question depends on the circumstances. A settlement provides greater certainty than a trial, but sometimes the responsible party offers too little to make a settlement worthwhile.

I just don't see that any of the defendents (the Dederians, town of W. Warwick, or the fire marshall) have ANY capacity to pay the claims!
If you spent more time learning about the causes of action advanced against these defendants, and any others, you would have a fuller picture of whether defendants can pay, and if so, how much.

[SuaSponte]

Your last thread on this issue. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=167666&highlight=nightclub)

You present no argument in this thread as to why the analysis of why or why not the feds should pay would be different from the issue of why the state should pay.

Sua