Condo collapse settlement inflames survivors
‘There are grown men crying today’ after Florida judge accepts decision in Surfside tragedy
Survivors of a condo building collapse that killed nearly 100 people in Florida last June say the financial settlement approved by a U.S. court Friday threatens to victimize them again.
Judge Michael Hanzman accepted a court-ordered mediator’s decision to offer the surviving owners of Surfside’s Champlain Towers South $83 million (U.S.) for the value of their condos, with the funds coming from insurance claims and the future sale of the land.
Survivors have 90 days to either accept their share of the $83-million settlement — and be protected from building assessment liability and wrongful-death lawsuits — or risk getting nothing, the court was told. Today’s decision is a “the biggest charade I have seen in my life,” says Raysa Rodriguez, who remembers being tossed out of bed by the force of the building heaving on June 24.
“This deal will leave many of my neighbours and myself homeless.”
Ninety-eight people, including four Canadians, died in the collapse of the 12-storey building.
In September, condo owners were offered $120 million for the sale of the land, an amount they felt was too small to compensate for their loss. The land has not yet been sold.
Rodriguez and Oren Cytrynbaum, a Canadian originally from Montreal, are representatives for surviving residents in the many different legal proceedings.
Rodriguez says that survivors felt no choice but to accept the mediator’s settlement, as they fear future lawsuits.
Under the agreement, whatever amount comes in from insurance, lawsuits and future sale of the land, beyond what goes to survivors, goes to those who lost loved ones. As a result, Surfside condo survivors are at odds with heirs of victims over how to divide proceeds.
Survivors like Rodriguez say the appraisals of the apartments are hundreds of thousands of dollars too low. On the other hand, a group of family members of people who died says surviving condo owners should get nothing — and should be held liable for damages — because they didn’t maintain the building, according to the Miami Herald.
Hanzman says there will never be enough money to compensate for losses of life and property.
“Let me give you a dose of reality. We have to prioritize. It’s a limited pot of money. You have to understand where your claim may end up in the pecking order between 98 people who perished and 136 owners who lost homes,” he said in a Jan. 5 hearing.
As survivors tried to share their disappointment in the settlement in the online courtroom, the court disabled the Zoom chat.
Cytrynbaum told the Star in December he finds it very hurtful that families of residents killed in the collapse are blaming surviving owners for not pursuing building maintenance and are suing them for wrongful deaths. “We were living in the condo like everyone else.”
Another surviving condo owner, Steve Rosenthal, says the night of the collapse was surreal, but that the “aftermath is even more surreal.” Rosenthal, 73, says his only possessions retrieved from the rubble were a prayer shawl and a small leather case containing Torah texts he received for his bar mitzvah 60 years ago.
Rosenthal now worries about making ends meet. He is living in a rental unit with little furniture and no pictures on the walls. He says that his share of the $83 million will give him $550,000, but he cannot buy another Surfside condo for less than $1 million. After he pays back his mortgage, Rosenthal says he will be left with only enough money to cover 18 months’ rent. “It’s a scary situation.”
Rodriguez, who is retired and has moved in with her parents, says she only has “five shorts and three Tshirts,” as she tries to save enough to live independently. “I am a mess,” she says. “There are grown men crying today.”
About half of survivors did not have insurance, according to the Global Empowerment Mission, a humanitarian organization helping survivors meet basic financial needs as they await their payout.