Total settlement reaches $100M in county building fire

The city says it will pay $50 million to settle lawsuits stemming from a 2003 fire at a downtown county administration building that killed six people.

A Chicago law firm says that brings to $100 million the amount the city, Cook County and seven other defendants have agreed to pay.

Chicago Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle says the city will directly pay $15 million and the remaining $35 million will be covered by insurance.

The combined $100 million settlement announced Monday by Chicago attorney Robert Clifford also includes $9 million from the county. The county was one of six defendants who settled lawsuits over the fire last week.

The six workers died after they were trapped in smoke-filled stairways.