Lawsuit Contends Adjacent Condo Construction Contributed To Collapse Of Champlain Towers

A major lawsuit in the collapse of a Florida beachfront condominium building that killed 98 people will go to trial in March 2023, a judge said Wednesday.

That’s about six months later than Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman had originally planned, but lawyers in the complex and unusual case said experts need more time to evaluate what caused the 12-story Champlain Towers South building to fall in June 2021.

‘That is a firm deadline, ladies and gentlemen,’ Hanzman said during a hearing held virtually. ‘This case will be going to trial in March 2023.’

The collapse of Champlain Towers, located in Surfside, Florida, was one of the worst building disasters in U.S. history. Federal and state agencies are investigating what happened, but likely won’t reach a conclusion for many months.

The main lawsuit filed in November contends that work on an adjacent luxury condo building, known as Eighty Seven Park, damaged and destabilized an aging Champlain Towers building already in dire need of major structural repair.