Judge Approves $83 Million Settlement for Victims of Last Year’s Florida Condo Collapse

The judge overseeing lawsuits brought in response to last year’s deadly condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, said this week that a $83 million settlement had been reached for victims of the incident.

Judge Michael Hanzman scheduled a March 30 hearing to address objections to the agreement from those who lost property and other belongings when the 12-story Champlain Towers South collapsed last June, leaving 98 dead and dozens injured.

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“My feeling is this process needs to get started sooner rather than later,” the Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge said of his time frame. “I want this process up in the next couple of weeks.”

While acknowledging that the unit owners were certain to have grievances with the deal, Hanzman said he viewed the agreement as “an eminently fair and reasonable compromise.”

“I could not be happier that you all have reached an agreement under tremendous pressure in a highly charged emotional case. I’ve tried to lay out the pros and cons of the arguments,” he said. “Absent something glaring being pointed out to me, I think it’s an excellent result.”

The $83 million would go toward claims for lost and damaged property and would not include money for wrongful death and personal injury claims. The funds were acquired from the building association’s insurance policy on the property and the sale of the lot.

Many owners from the 136-unit building have argued that the $83 million figure would shortchange them on the actual value of their homes. The lot will be placed up for auction at the end of April, though an offer for $120 million was made months ago. Other offers could be made on the oceanfront space before auction day.

Court documents stated that the payout amounts would be proportionate to an individual’s ownership shares as well as personal items lost in the now-destroyed building. Lawyers involved in the case are now working to find someone qualified to value the claims.

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Victims have been at odds with each other about how the compensation should be split. Some family members of the deceased have said that surviving owners should not be eligible for equal access to the funds given that wrongful death claims are worth more than property loss.

Hanzman had argued, however, that everyone involved was going to be shortchanged given the scope of the disaster.

“We’ve got probably close to a billion dollars of claims here. We know we’re going to have a limited fund,” he noted at a court hearing last month. “Everybody is going to get less than they want or what they deserve legally.”