Lawsuits and counter-suits filed
Champlain Towers South Condominium, Sunrise, FL, June 25, 2021. Courtesy, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
The insurance companies that provided coverage for the engineering firm that first identified structural problems with the Champlain Towers South condominium building three years before its collapse are refusing to cover the property damage and bodily injury claims and have filed a lawsuit against the engineering firm.
National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford and Continental Casualty Company, collectively known as “CNA” filed suit in federal court against Morabito Consultants, the firm hired by the condo association to inspect the 12-story tower prior to its required 40-year recertification by the local Surfside, Florida building department. In its lawsuit, CNA said the tower’s partial collapse and resulting deaths of 98 residents were caused by Morabito’s “negligence,” including “acts omissions in connection” with providing professional engineering services, according to the Miami Herald. CNA is also refusing to pay claims filed by the condo association that was also covered under the policy.
The Surfside Condo Tower Collapse, July 2021. Courtesy, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
Morabito issued a summary report in 2018 noting “major structural damage” to concrete in the condo’s pool area and “abundant” deterioration of the garage columns supporting the building. Morabito also provided a $9 million estimate to repair and renovate the 12-story tower. The renovation work didn’t proceed until just a few months before the building’s partial collapse in June of this year.
Morabito filed a motion to dismiss the CNA lawsuit and has now countersued CNA, outlining their 2018 report and subsequent work. The firm insists CNA should be included in the claims process and defend it in current and upcoming litigation. At stake here are likely hundreds of millions of dollars in damage claims contained in individual and class-action lawsuits against the condo association and Morabito, not only from heirs of the 98 victims who perished, but also from the 136 owners who lost their condo units.
Local and federal investigators are still determining the exact cause of the building’s partial collapse. You can read more in this very insightful article by Jay Weaver in the Miami Herald.
LMA Newsletter of 11-15-21
