Lawyers for the victims of last year’s Surfside condo collapse announced Wednesday that a $997 million settlement has been reached, ABC News reports.
The settlement was revealed during a status conference at a Florida courtroom, and left Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman admittedly “speechless.” Hanzman added, “I’m shocked by this result – I think it’s fantastic. This is a recovery that is far in excess of what I had anticipated.” Hanzman hopes to have everything finalized by June 24, which is the one-year anniversary of the tragic event that killed 98 people.
“It’s the largest settlement from a single incident in U.S. history,” Judd Rosen, one of the lead attorneys in the class-action lawsuit, said. “The number itself implies significant accountability on what happened.” The suit argued that construction on the luxury high-rise condo Eighty-Seven Park next door exasperated what were already poor conditions of the Champlain Towers South (CTS). Owners and insurers for Eighty-Seven Park have denied any responsibility for the collapse.
In the days that followed the collapse, a letter from CTS board president Jean Wodnicki to its residents months prior surfaced, proving there was a sense of awareness regarding how decrepit the condo’s structure had become. “The concrete deterioration is accelerating. The roof situation got much worse, so extensive roof repairs had to be incorporated,” the letter read.
Adam Schwartzbaum, lawyer for surviving resident Raysa Rodriguez, claimed an investigation found that warning signs existed 10 years ago, if not longer. The 136-unit complex, which was built in 1981, had been in the process of a county-mandated inspection when the collapse occurred.
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