The twelve-storey apartment building largely collapsed on the night of June 23 to 24 last year. 98 people died as a result. Rescue workers searched for bodies in the rubble for more than a month. The cause of the disaster is still unclear, but three years earlier a warning had already been issued about the condition of the forty-year-old building.
Ten parties were charged in the settlement case, including the municipality of Surfside, project developers, the association of owners of the complex and engineering firms. It is exceptional for such a large settlement case to be settled in less than a year. How the money will be distributed among the survivors and next of kin is still unknown.
The Miami Herald won the prestigious American Pulitzer Prize on Monday for its coverage of the disaster. The newspaper received the award in the breaking news category.