Coverage ‘inadequate’ in Florida condo collapse: Judge

The Surfside, Florida, condominium building that collapsed last week had $48 million in total property and liability coverage, which will be “inadequate” to compensate everyone fully, a Miami-Dade circuit judge has said.

In an online meeting Thursday, Judge Michael Hanzman was told by attorneys for the Champlain Towers South condo association that they were aware of only $30 million in property insurance and $18 million in liability coverage, according to a segment posted online by the Miami Herald.

Great American Insurance Co. is the property insurer for the building.

“It looks like for the property damage claims and the injury and death claims there’s going to be a total of $48 million which will obviously be inadequate to compensate everyone fully to the extent of their harm,” Judge Hanzman said.

“I don’t know if there are any third-party claims. Maybe there are, maybe there aren’t, but we are dealing with certainly a limited pot as far as insurers go,” he said.

The collapse of the building on June 24 in which at least 20 have been confirmed dead and 128 remain unaccounted for is likely to lead to protracted litigation that could trigger a widening pool of property and liability claims. Five lawsuits have been filed against the condo association so far.

Engineers, architects, contractors that worked or advised on the property, building inspectors and adjacent properties that had work done that might have contributed to the collapse could be drawn into the litigation, attorneys say.