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The settlement pool for the victims of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida continues to grow. As reported by NBC 6, the pool of money now amounts to over a quarter of a billion dollars to be split between property loss and wrongful death claimants.
Two partners at Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen have been serving on the plaintiffs’ team in the Champlain Towers South Collapse Litigation. Attorney Rachel Furst is serving as Co-Chair Lead Counsel; Attorney Stuart Grossman is serving as the Wrongful Death Damage Liaison Counsel.
“We are quite satisfied with these settlements and the tens of millions of dollars that will go to the benefit of these families that have suffered such enormous losses," Attorney Grossman told reporters for NBC.
Still, while the growing settlements foretell a great legal victory for the plaintiffs, our team recognizes that no amount of money can truly compensate for the devastation of the Surfside condo collapse. As Attorney Grossman said in a press interview, the hardest task is figuring out how to compensate for the loss of life.
Attorney Grossman is representing a total of five bereaved families in addition to serving in his court-appointed position on the plaintiffs’ team. Among these clients are the mother and sister of a 21-year-old University of Chicago physics major whose life ended abruptly in the collapse.
“This young man could’ve exhausted all the coverage,” Attorney Grossman said in a conversation with NBC. “That’s how big his case would be, but there’s a reality that there’s only going to be so much to recover.”
And that’s not even broaching the economic losses suffered by other plaintiffs whose homes disappeared into the rubble. Currently, about $83 million has been allocated for this group.
With so many victims and such substantial losses, no amount of money will truly be enough.
“We’ve got 98 folks that lost their lives,” Attorney Grossman stated. “This is an enormous case. And it’s going to far outstrip their assets if it goes to jury trials, so they better come prepared to settle.”
Attorney Grossman and the rest of the plaintiffs’ team intend to get every penny they can to help the victims.
The ramifications of the case will extend beyond those directly affected, however. For one, the Surfside condo collapse brought the public’s attention to problems specific to older buildings; secondly, subsequent litigation showed condo associations and engineering firms that they won’t be able to get away with negligently ignoring those problems.
“Certainly, the Number 1 achievement will be that inspections will be regarded as must-haves, must-dos; that assessments will have to be paid,” Attorney Grossman told 2022 Florida Super Lawyers Magazine. “There’s a movement afoot now to make public the condominium financial docs that show the relative solvency of every building. … I think the South Florida community is now hyper-sensitive to older buildings, of which there are thousands.”
Hear more from the families and their attorneys here.
To find out more about our work in the Champlain Towers South Collapse Litigation, call us at (866) 629-1061 or contact us online.
