Lawyers who won $1.1 billion in compensation for survivors of the Surfside, Florida, building collapse last year deserve $70 million, a judge ruled.
The total was less than the roughly $100 million that attorneys from the 17 law firms had requested but were initially not guaranteed to receive after the June 24, 2021, collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, killing 98 people.
Judge Michael Hanzman said relatives of the victims and those who lost only their homes and property in the collapse got much higher compensation than usual, noting that the litigation was resolved in less than a year.
“That is an extraordinary result, it is something that is unprecedented,” Hanzman said at the hearing.
Survivors “are not receiving minuscule compensation, they are basically being fully compensated, something that never happens in these cases,” said Hanzman, who commented that the case “could have been a total disaster.”
“It had so much potential to go off the rails,” the judge declared. “If things had gone wrong, (the lawyers) could have ended up with nothing.”
Still, he determined that the $100 million requested by the judges was too much. He noted that not only were they not promised a penny when they took the case, but they also settled it quickly and reduced the number of hours worked.
Some survivors also questioned the original figure, considering it too generous given the scale of the tragedy, even as they acknowledged the extraordinary results.
“No one should profit from the death of 98 human beings,” said Marin Langerfeld, who lost her sister and brother-in-law in the tragedy.
Kevin Spiegel, who lost his wife Judith, said: “This is the hardest thing that has ever happened to our family. It is something that we will always carry inside.
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