Adriana Gómez Licon and Curt Anderson -
The Associated Press
A judge approved this Thursday a compensation of 1,020 million dollars for the victims of the collapse of a residential building in Surfside, facing the beach of Miami (Florida), which cost the lives of 98 people in one of the worst construction failures in the history.
Miami-Dade County Judge Michael Hanzman's decision comes a day before the anniversary of the Champlain Towers South disaster.
The judge praised the dozens of attorneys involved for avoiding what could have been years of litigation with no assured outcome.
“It will never be enough to compensate them for the tragic loss [but] this settlement is the best we can do.
It is a remarkable result.
It's extraordinary," the judge said.
Remains of the foundations of the Champlain Towers condominium that collapsed in Florida, in an image from May 12, 2022.Marta Lavandier / AP
Most of the money will go to people who lost family members in the 12-story building collapse.
About 100 million will be for attorneys' fees and 96 million for owners who lost one of the 136 condominiums.
No victims objected or opted out
, court-appointed trustee Michael Goldberg said.
Several people who lost family members or property said in court Thursday that they are grateful for such a quick conclusion.
[The first 911 calls come to light after the collapse of the building in Miami]
Raysa Rodriguez, who survived in a ninth-floor unit that was left intact, had nothing but praise for the outcome: “You have no idea what a relief this is for me personally,” she said, “I'm so tired, I just want this to go away. finished, I want these souls to rest”.
Her home had to be destroyed along with the rest of the building that resisted the collapse, for security reasons.
The ruling came during what is called a fairness hearing, in which anyone who has objections to the settlement can raise them while the judge determines whether the deal is "fair, reasonable and adequate," according to court documents.
'There's no amount you'll get back to your mother,' says father of Surfside collapse survivor
May 12, 202203:16
The money comes from various sources, including insurance companies, engineering firms and a luxury condominium whose recent construction next door is suspected of having contributed to the structural damage to Champlain Towers South.
None of the parties admitted having done anything wrong and so far there are no known legal consequences of the collapse.
A multimillionaire Dubai developer is set to buy the 1.8-acre (1-hectare) lot where the tower stood for $120 million, which will go into the compensation fund.
Champlain Towers South had a long history of maintenance problems and questions have been raised about the quality of its construction and the first inspections in the 1980s.
Other possible factors include rising sea levels from the climate emergency and saltwater damage to foundations.
[“Nothing comes close to this”: a woman recounts her family's pain a month after the collapse in Surfside]
Investigations into the exact cause of the collapse are still ongoing and will likely take several more years to reach a final conclusion.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is leading the federal investigation into the collapse, recently announced that they are about to conduct more tests on samples of material from the collapse site.
These will help detect flaws in building structural elements by looking at things like the density of the materials, how porous they were, and whether there was corrosion, NIST explained.
“It was an opportunity to make money”: three people accused of identity theft from victims of the Surfside collapse are arrested
Sept.
9, 202102:17
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Florida officials are requiring recertification of all condominiums over three stories high, under new legislation Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law last month in response to the disaster.
The death toll in the Champlain Towers collapse is among the highest in the nation's history from similar disasters.
The collapse of a pedestrian bridge at the Hyatt Regency hotel in 1981 killed 114 people and in 1860 between 88 and 145 workers were killed in a factory collapse in Massachusetts.
