Press Releases and Media Clips
Experienced Personal Injury Attorney Comments on Settlement with Families of Victims of Florida Condominium Collapse
May 12, 2022
NEW YORK, NY — Ronald J. Katter, of The Katter Law Firm, says the lawsuit settlement proposal announced yesterday for last year’s deadly Florida condominium collapse should be approved because it is both fair and efficient.
In the early morning hours of June 24, 2021, Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, collapsed, killing 98 people and destroying 136 apartments. The surviving victims, families of those who were killed, and the unit owners filed more than 20 lawsuits against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association and the developer of Eighty Seven Park project, the building next door. They claimed the developer’s work from that construction project caused the condominium to collapse. This past March, the defendants offered $83 million to the condominium unit owners for their property loss. Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman, who is overseeing the lawsuits related to the Surfside building collapse, was deciding whether to approve that settlement.
On May 11, 2022, Judge Hanzman unexpectedly announced the $997 million settlement of the class-action lawsuit brought by the survivors and the families of those who died. “The enormous size and speed of the proposed settlement benefits all parties involved,” Mr. Katter said. “As large as a $997 million settlement seems, the defendants, who did not admit responsibility, might have paid much more, had the case gone to trial. The survivors and families of those who were killed decided that, although a jury may have awarded them even more money at trial, the risks and emotional toll of a drawn-out litigation were not worth it. Ironically, a good settlement is one in which neither side gets everything they want. “