Miami building collapse: Victims set to receive an almost billion dollar settlement

It is not clear what caused the collapse but an engineers’ report three years earlier had revealed structural issues.

The partially collapsed building was eventually demolished

Families and victims of a devastating apartment block collapse are set to receive an almost billion dollar settlement.

The class action lawsuit came after the 12-storey block in the Florida town of Surfside suddenly sank towards the ground in the early hours on 24 June last year, almost instantly destroying dozens of individual apartments and burying victims under tons of rubble.

Rescuers spent weeks carefully digging through mountains of concrete, first to find survivors and later to recover the remains of those who died. A total of 98 people were killed.

The main lawsuit, filed on behalf of Champlain Towers South victims and family members, contended that work on the adjacent Eighty Seven Park tower damaged and destabilised the Champlain Towers building, which was in dire need of major structural repair.

Champlain Towers was in the middle of its 40-year structural review when it partially crumbled to the ground.