Condo next door sued
The destruction at ground level adjacent to the remaining Champlain Towers South Condominium, June 24, 2021. Credit: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
The Surfside condo tower collapse was the subject of discussion at the recent National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) conference I attended. The question: how big an impact will it have on property insurance underwriting and building inspection standards going forward? Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been filed against the high-rise condo next door, blaming in part its recent construction for the deadly collapse.
I took part in NCOIL’s Property & Casualty Insurance Committee meeting on a panel addressing the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse that killed 98 people last June. Other panelists included Daniel Dean, Risk Mitigation Officer for Bridgepoint Global Property Consultants, a Largo firm specializing in risk mitigation, building science and claims management, and Greg Serio, former Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, their equivalent of Insurance Commissioner. We brought with us the two recent reports containing recommendations on how to prevent another condo tragedy.
Lisa Miller presents on a panel addressing the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse before the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), November 19, 2021
The panelists stressed to the NCOIL audience of insurance regulators and legislators from 25 different states in attendance that understanding every inch of commercial residential buildings is the future of public safety to prevent another Surfside. That starts from the building design through construction and then figuring out how to best preserve the long-term health of buildings by assessing environmental and other degradation of structures and their systems over a building’s lifetime. Periodic maintenance is certainly a part of that. It’s why insurance companies have been looking to beef-up underwriting requirements, including annual building inspections and requiring condo boards to certify there are no outstanding maintenance issues.
While there are a few bills that have been filed so far in the Florida Legislature for consideration in its next session that begins on January 11, there’s a question just how much the legislature will tackle this subject until the federal government’s report is out on the cause of the collapse, which is not expected at the earliest until late next year. In the meantime, only Boca Raton has joined Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in requiring building safety inspections. The city will require structural and electrical inspections of buildings that are at least 30 years old. Miami-Dade and Broward’s standards are for buildings turning 40.
Lisa with Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) at the NCOIL annual meeting, November 19, 2021
Among other NCOIL highlights was the opportunity to visit again with Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and hear him deliver the luncheon keynote address. He shared his experiences in Congress and said everything he ever needed to learn about insurance he learned by attending NCOIL meetings. He is a leader with common sense and part of the problem solvers caucus in Congress. You can read a full recap of the NCOIL meeting, which included passage of model laws on telemedicine and air ambulance service.
Meanwhile, the families of those who died in the Surfside condo tower collapse and those who survived are expanding their class-action lawsuit against the condominium association and its engineering firm to now include the condominium next door. The 169-page complaint against nine defendants involved in the development of the high-rise Eighty Seven Park condominium building alleges that its excavation and construction, just ten feet away, caused the Champlain Towers South condo “to become so badly damaged and destabilized as to be unsafe.” You can read more in this Miami Herald article.
LMA Newsletter of 11-29-21
