Law firm case to proceed after damage

WEST PALM BEACH — West Palm Beach lawyer William Price, whose downtown office was smashed by a cascade of bricks from the neighboring Alexander Lofts in 2016, has won a summary judgment against Lofts owner Sodix Fern, LLC.

Judge Meenu Sasser cleared the case to proceed to trial to determine damages.

The judge denied a finding of summary judgment against Ram Realty, which operates the apartment building next to Price’s office at 320 Fern St.

Price said he plans to press on against Ram as well as Sodix, as there have been no settlement offers.

“Fourteen months, and they have offered me zero,” Price said Monday. “They’re stringing me along. Delay, deny, do not pay.”

Sodix’s and Ram’s attorney, Jeffrey Paskert, could not be reached for comment.

A section of the brick skin of the six-story Alexander Lofts peeled off the 90-year-old downtown apartment building and crashed four stories onto the one-story law office March 3, 2016, causing minor injuries to four people and leading firefighters to close both buildings, block off a section of Fern Street and halt construction of apartments across the street for days.

City officials attributed the accident to rusted metal-tie rods that attached the decades-old brick facade to the structure. An estimated 40,000 pounds of bricks fell on the law office, piercing the roof and smashing three skylights.

Since then, Price’s firm has been operating out of temporary offices around the corner, at 521 S. Olive Ave., while waiting to collect from Sodix and Ram to repair or replace his one-story building next to the Lofts.

Of the four people injured, three also sued Sodix and Ram, and those suits are pending, Price said.

The Lofts has long since been repaired, reopened to renters, and the mural on the collapsed wall was replaced with a new one, called The Spirit of Aviation.

The six-story apartment building, built in 1926, formerly housed Bell South and AT&T offices.