Payout offer for Surfside collapse: Average of $610,294. Some angry about 'low ball' deal.

[Demovictory9]

Owners of the condominiums that were destroyed in the Champlain Towers South collapse have been offered a compromise agreement to settle their property loss claims for a total of $83 million, their lawyers said during a court hearing Friday. Each surviving owner or the heirs of those who died in the 136-unit building would receive an average of $610,294 that would vary according to the size of the condo.

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Some surviving owners were angered by the settlement and said their share of the $83 million is far less than what they need to rebuild their lives. “We are being penalized for surviving,” said Steve Rosenthal, who was rescued from a unit that remained standing and was later demolished. “They are going to ruin our lives twice.”

Raysa Rodriguez said she and many of her neighbors are disappointed they will not receive anything close to the full value of their units and belongings. She estimates she would receive $443,000 in the settlement and that her unit could have sold for $700,000. “The process was a farce,” she said. “We are getting screwed and it is not right.”

Rosenthal’s unit in the oceanfront building was appraised at $735,000 in 2018 and he believes he could have sold it last year for $850,000. He would receive $591,000 in the settlement. Since he moved into an apartment and bought furniture, clothes, “even salt and pepper shakers,” home and rental prices in South Florida have soared. “We could never afford to return to Surfside,” he said. “I have to hope they build affordable housing in the Everglades.”



Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article258307968.html#storylink=cpy

[Frasier Balzov]

1. Lost lives are worth more than lost property.

This story is a financial battle between the living and the dead.

Fascinating and deserving of close study as to how these interests are finally made to balance.

[JI7]

2. They don't have their own insurance ?

[PoliticAverse]

3. Not on the individual condos themself which are insured by the condo association's policy...

with a total payment limit of $50 million. Individuals may also have had insurance on the contents of their condo.

[alphafemale]

8. Not sure an individual insurance policy would cover this

Homeowners policies are worthless for so many things unless you purchase the additional riders. If that is the correct term.

[RockRaven]

4. It's not said in the headline or until half way through the article, but the people in question

are both plaintiffs and defendants, offenders and victims in the universe of possible lawsuits which this settlement agreement is trying to wrap up in a single bow.

The condo owners owned the building between themselves. Big picture: they've all been harmed by negligence, and they collectively perpetrated that negligence.

Are there exceptions and edge cases? I'm sure there are. Some more than others, yadda yadda.

But are we supposed to be surprised and outraged that they cannot all be made whole? How could a group of people who are collectively and simultaneously perpetrators and victims ever be made perfectly whole? Doesn't the perpetrator part mean there must be some cost/penalty/shortfall? Isn't this obviously going to hurt to some degree?

[secondwind]

5. I think I read somewhere that there are 900,00 of these condos

in Miami, and half of them are over 30 years old.

I’m willing to bet there are a lot for sale now.

[JI7]

6. I wonder how much they are worth now

[Demovictory9]

7. value will drop when this bill passes: Legislators to require condo owners to conduct inspections, s

Legislators to require condo owners to conduct inspections, save for repairs


https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article258252865.html