Construction of a
luxury building next door triggered the collapse of an
already fragile Florida condominium that killed 98 people in
June, according to a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday on behalf of Champlain
Towers South victims and family members, contends that work
on the adjacent Eighty Seven Park tower damaged and
destabilized a building in dire need of major structural
repair.
Champlain Towers, the lawsuit claims, “was an older building
in need of routine repairs and maintenance, but it was not
until excavation and construction began on the luxury
high-rise condominium project next door” that the building
became unsafe.
“The collapse was entirely preventable,” the lawsuit says.
Champlain Towers was in the midst of its 40-year structural
review when it collapsed without warning in the early
morning hours of June 24. The collapse has triggered
multiple federal and state investigations and a flurry of
lawsuits by victims, families and condo owners.
The lead investigating agency is the National Institute for
Standards and Technology, which recently estimated its probe
could take as long as two years.
The lawsuit contends that excavation, pile-driving and other
work at Eighty Seven Park between 2016 and 2019 caused
vibrations that weakened the shaky structure next door. In
addition, groundwater was funneled from the new building to
the Champlain Towers property basement after developers
bought a small road separating the two, the lawsuit says.
This latest 169-page complaint is a potential class action
that could represent all victims and their families. It was
filed as part of an existing case in Miami-Dade County
Circuit Court that also involves the planned sale of the
Champlain Towers property to benefit victims.
The lawsuit does not cite a specific amount of damages but
could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars,
according to attorneys involved in the case. The nine
defendants include developers of Eighty Seven Park, an
engineering firm, the Champlain Towers South condo
association and a Miami law firm.
The defendants denied that construction of Eighty Seven Park
was responsible for the building collapse. The 18-story
building is located in Miami Beach immediately south of the
Champlain Towers site in Surfside.
“As numerous media reports have documented, Champlain Towers
South was improperly designed, poorly constructed,
signficantly underfunded and inadequately maintained and
repaired,” said attorney David B. Weinstein, who represents
8701 Collins Development LLC.
“We expect a full review of the facts — and the ongoing
investigation by NIST — will affirm our position,” Weinstein
said in an email.