Tentative Settlement In Surfside Collapse Is Nearly $1 Billion

Survivors and the families of 98 people killed in the Surfside condominium collapse learned Wednesday that a class-action lawsuit has been tentatively settled for $997 million – an amount far greater than most people involved expected it to reach.

The settlement of the class-action litigation comes a little more than 10 months after the catastrophe in the small beachfront town north of Miami. Since the first lawsuit in the disaster was filed June 25 – a day after half of the Champlain Towers South condominium sheared off from the rest of the building and pancaked to the ground – Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman has urged attorneys in the myriad lawsuits to work fast to bring relief to survivors.

The rapid pace Hanzman insisted on means that families who lost loved ones will not be subjected to years of litigation and millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees, Hanzman said.

Details of how the money will be distributed have not been released. The amount – which may grow to more than $1 billion when all of the lawsuits are settled – will be divided between several hundred victims and families.

Pablo Rodriguez, who lost his mother and grandmother in the disaster, said he’s glad the litigation is nearly over.

“With a settlement you can try to start putting this behind you. Continued litigation could have gone on for several years,” said Rodriguez, an attorney in Miami. “At the same time, no amount of money is going to bring them back. It’s kind of hard to fathom all of this.”

An earlier settlement of $83 million is earmarked for people who lost only property. The land where the building once stood is being auctioned off at the end of this month and is expected to fetch at least $120 million, money that will go into the settlement funds.

Rodriguez and other victims of the collapse say one important thing has been left undone in the aftermath of the disaster: State lawmakers have failed to pass new condo safety regulations.

“That’s the most disheartening thing, the fact that no legislation was passed to prevent this from happening again,” Rodriguez said.

He said the settlement announced Wednesday is one way for loved ones to try to move forward.

“At the end of the day, this is all that’s left that the system can give to try to make it right,” Rodriguez said. “It will never be right, but this is what we have.”

The Washington Post · Lori Rozsa