Judge gives final approval to ‘remarkable’ $1 billion Surfside condo collapse settlement [Miami Herald]
One day before the one-year anniversary of the
More than two dozen defendants who were sued for negligence after the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South on
“The standard for approval of this settlement is not whether this is the best possible deal or comparable to a trial verdict but whether it is fair, reasonable and adequate,” Hanzman said. “I could not be more proud of this agreement and the people who led this case. I’ve been on the bench for 10 years and handled a number of very difficult cases and this was one of a kind.”
Several family members and survivors came forward to thank Hanzman for consistently and occasionally abrasively pushing the pace of the proceedings to conclude the case within a year and avoid a lengthy and painful trial.
“I am physically here but I died along with my Malky,” said
The company paying the largest share of the settlement — nearly half of the total at
The companies involved in the construction of the
The payments, according to filings, include
Hanzman commended the dozens of lawyers working on both sides of the case, calling them “Hall of Famers.”
“A more complex case than this is hard to imagine,” he said. “It involved economic, personal injury and death claims. It involved a black swan event for which it would have been extremely difficult if not impossible to pinpoint the cause.
“If litigated, there would be cross claims and third party claims. The settling parties had a number of viable defenses that might well have proven their conduct did not contribute to this event. Assuming all those hurdles were cleared, there would be some 150 individual trials on each claim. The case would have easily, easily taken over a decade to resolve. These victims and families would have had to endure this trauma over and over and over again if not for this settlement.”
Read more: A judge’s legacy from
Hanzman defended the
“There are survivors who believe they should have received more money for the property they lost. I have empathy for them but I simply disagree,” he said. “As traumatic an episode as they went through they have to realize there are many people who rightly or wrongly believe the owners’ inability to maintain the building was a cause. Had this case played out legally I believe there is a substantial likelihood their equity would’ve been wiped out to pay liability for wrongful death.”
Hanzman will oversee claims hearings in August during which relatives will make a case for what their loved ones’ lives were worth and survivors will make a case for what their physical and psychological injuries are worth. It’s expected to be an emotional and deeply personal process and Hanzman ruled Thursday to keep the hearings private and follow another tight deadline to finish by
“As for wrongful death claims, there is no amount of money in the world to adequately compensate people for their loss,” he said. “Under the law the court will do whatever it can do to ascribe value to their lives. It sounds cold, sounds harsh. That’s all we can do and we’re going to do it. It will be a far better result than what would’ve been achieved after a 10-year litigation slog.”
Hanzman also decided to wait on deciding what to pay the lawyers until after the claims payments are determined. Over three dozen lawyers who originally agreed to work on the case and be compensated at the judge’s discretion have submitted a claim for
Hanzman offered to pay mediator
“I took the case at your request and initially turned it down because I knew it was a tragedy with no happy ending and no compensation for victims that would ever be OK,” Greer said. “But I felt there had to be an unprecedented community response to this unprecedented tragedy. I agreed to work pro bono, and pro bono is pro bono. Whatever fees you were going to allocate to me please allocate to the victims.”
Greer gave a glimpse into the arduousness of mediating agreements that nearly fell apart.
“There were 40 defense lawyers in this case, many representing insurance companies, who were motivated to get a result fast,” he said. “But settling that side was like a Rubik’s Cube. Many times it appeared there would be no deal. The greatness of the plaintiffs’ lawyers has been stated over and over but the defense lawyers were of equal skill.”
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