SURFSIDE (Florida, US), July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As the remaining rubble from the collapse of a 12-storey oceanfront condominium was cleared away on Wednesday, a Florida judge said victims and families who suffered losses will get a minimum of US$150 million in compensation initially.
FLORIDA: As the remaining rubble from the collapse of a 12-storey oceanfront condominium was cleared away on Wednesday (Jul 21), a Florida judge sai
That sum includes about US$50 million in insurance on the Champlain Towers South building and at least US$100 million in proceeds from the sale of the Surfside property where the structure once stood, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman said at a hearing.
“The court’s concern has always been the victims here,” the judge said, adding that the group includes visitors and renters, not just condo owners.
“Their rights will be protected.”
The US$150 million does not count any proceeds from the numerous lawsuits already filed since the June 24 collapse, which killed at least 97 people. Those lawsuits are being consolidated into a single class action that would cover all victims and family members if they choose, the judge said.
“I have no doubt, no stone will be left unturned,” Hanzman said of the lawsuits.
So far 97 victims have been identified, many of them using DNA analysis. Miami-Dade officials said on Wednesday evening they believed they have two more victims to identify, but another person’s name was released later in the day — meaning there may be just one more.
Officials have not yet announced an end to the recovery effort.
The site of the tragedy has mostly been cleared away with the debris relocated to an evidentiary collection site near the airport where a thorough search will continue “with enormous care and diligence”, said Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
She spoke about the difficulties of the search in a statement on Wednesday.
“The enormous pressure of the weight of the collapse and the passage of time also make it more challenging,” she said, stressing that workers were still carefully combing through the rubble for the remaining victims as well as personal property.
On Wednesday, police said 24-year-old Anastasia Gromova and Linda March, 58, were identified.
Gromova, a Canadian from Montreal, had just been accepted to a programme teaching English in Japan. She was visiting Florida with her friend Michelle Pazos, and were staying with Pazos’ father at the condo.
Gromova’s body was recovered three days ago and was one of the last to be identified. Pazos’ body, along with her father’s, was recovered earlier this month.
Gromova’s grieving family rushed from Canada after the collapse and had spent weeks in agony waiting in Miami.
March’s body was recovered on July 5, police said. She was an attorney described by family as an outgoing woman looking for a new start in the Miami area. She had lost both her mother and father in the past decade and was divorced.
The rubble that will be key evidence is being stored in a Miami-area warehouse, with the rest in nearby vacant lots, said the receiver, attorney Michael Goldberg. All of that will be preserved as possible evidence for the lawsuits and for other experts to review, he said.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is leading a federal probe into the collapse, according to a receiver handling the finances on behalf of the condominium board.
“It may take years for their report to become public,” Goldberg said of the NIST probe.
The building was just undergoing its 40-year recertification process when it collapsed. That came three years after an engineer warned of serious structural issues needing immediate attention. Most of the concrete repair and other work had yet to be started.
There remain differences of opinion among condo owners about what to do with the site. Some want the entire condo rebuilt so they can move back in. Others say it should be left as a memorial site to honour those who died. A third suggestion is to combine both.
