When the repairs came up for a vote ❎ Did Rosenthal vote ❎ yes or no to a huge assessment increase for repairs..? There's a record of the no votes ~ just saying...

Aaaaaaannnndddd Pandora's Box is officially WIDE OPEN. That place was a ticking time bomb, sadly. My son worked as a valet, about 5 years back, at the Champlain Towers; and when I told him he said he was shocked but not surprised. He told me he always thought the building was too heavy, had too much water intrusion flooding the parking lot constantly; and that they basically put "band aids on a broken arm" regarding the reports of which he filed many. He eventually realized they were being swept under the rug because no real repair was really ever done. He also said the building manager at the time was a real ahole. And my son gets along with just about EVERYBODY, so I know the guy must have been a peach to work with. I used to pick him up and drop him off at work many times...and I have to say, THANK YOU FATHER FOR SPARING US THAT DEMISE. It could have happened at ANY TIME to ANYONE that visited the place. My prayers are with everyone that is hurting; may God's angels surround and comfort you. May God have mercy on all of the souls that departed and any that may still be alive. This was a clear result of GREED and could have been COMPLETELY avoided. Shame on those responsible.

Corruption is the seed that caused the collapse.

Negligence is the only reason able verdict

Here comes the massive devaluing of condos on the beaches of south Florida

A retired civil engineer neighbor said years ago that he wouldn't buy a south Florida condo owing to their poor construction. "They look like they'd collapse" , he told me prior to buying a single family home next door to me instead.

From what I've been reading, all condo owners were aware of the deteriorating condition of the building. The HOA was trying to figure out the special assessment to pay for the necessary repairs. It probably would have come to over $100K per owner.

Greed drives negligence. The old mighty dollar, rules!

I heard that some of the units were rented out to Airbnb. So that could have been me or anyone who doesn't even own a condo there. Just renting a space for vacation.

I don't blame him. It is neglect and laziness. This shouldn't of ever happened.

I feel the exact same way... No beachfront condos literally been looking in to buying a condo on the beach. This changed my mind

Associations can be a horror show. It is usually the unqualified leading the unconscious.

There is a 40 year recertification requirement, but there is no requirement to wait until 40 years. If you own a single family home that corrodes over time and you do not maintain it, and there is a catastrophe as a result, who are you going to sue? Not very different here except there is a group of owners instead of 1. It's a condo, you bought it, you get it fixed. Plus who are going to sue here? The HOA that you are a member of? First, half of them are dead, and if they had any money in the HOA account, they wouldn't have needed a loan for the repairs.

It turns out the condo residents already knew about the damage and repairs that needed to be done, but had delayed the issue because of the huge assessment cost. Residents voiced concerns at the condo association meetings about the amount of the proposed assessment and having enough financial oversight on it, delaying the repairs. 75 days before the collapse, the Condo association sent out a letter which would help residents better understand why the coming assessment would be so costly, - yet some residents had stalled the process believing the condo board was "assessing too much.” From the doomed condo, the last memo: “Your Board of Directors is working very hard to bring this project to fruition,” [indicating the board had consulted with engineers, accountants, and attorneys.], “We have covered so much ground already to get the project rolling. … We have discussed, debated, and argued for years now, and will continue to do so for years to come as different items come into play." But not "years to come", just 75 days.

Being in a building where more than half of it just collapsed, being unable to escape and at the mercy of waiting for firefighter rescue. That is horrid. My nerves would have been shot. Depending on how high my unit was, I would have risked jumping or attempted to climb down.

It's all about the money a lot of buildings in the United States are falling apart but people still pay the rent

I have a feeling that dreaming of a condo on the beach will be a thing of the past. You couldn't pay me to stay in one now..

They should release the minutes and transcripts of the HOA meetings. Sadly, I think we are going to find out that some of the people who tragically perished might have been complaining about how expensive the repair costs were going to be.

The Wall Street Journal today, referring to articles on the Champlain Tower South in the Miami Herald in 1981, reports that the developer put a massive and illegal penthouse on the roof of the 12th floor, adding a 13th (lucky 13) floor that was not part of the approved architect plans. More stress loads on a building built on the cheap. The city of Surfside will end up also getting sued - for its total corruption and incompetence. Surfside later gave the developer a key to the city.

Suing his Home Owner Association does not make any sense. He is practically suing himself.

They haven't even got all the victims out, and this guy has already filed a lawsuit. SMH.

People are still under the rubble and he has his documents all ready for lawsuit. Looking at him, I'm not surprised!

Seems the city knew about the report and failed to put up that condemned sign. Til repairs could have been made. At least installed support jacks in the. Weaken areas. Some1 dropped the ball!

Ultimately the unit owners are responsible for maintaining the building costs. Sadly most building owners vote against raising the necessary funds to perform timely maintenance.

In most states, the building would have been condemned. No homeowner debates 3 years later. In most states, inspections have consequences.

So did he vote for the repair assessments or not? Hypocrite.

I'm sueing, the HOA, my town, the city I am even going to sue myself !!

Sue your own HOA? A lot of HOAs have limited reserves due to lack of foresight

Yes i don't blame this guy for doing that I hope he get what he deserves

Suing the condo association is the same as suing himself.

Having seen some of the pictures before the collapse it appeared this building was in bad shape. Rebar coming up through the garage floor, big chunks of concrete missing from support pillars and lots of water damage throughout the building. I am No expert but I have been around construction and home building enough to know I wouldn't have bought there no matter how low the price was. People tend to see what they want to see and turn their heads to what they don't want to see. I don't need a building inspector to tell me to stay away from this building or to get the hell out of this disaster waiting to happen. You can bet there are plenty more buildings in the area in the same condition.

Guy who lives files suit before his neighbors’ dead bodies are even recovered. What a guy.

Sue the HOA!? If it had collected enough money from you all, they might have fixed it. No way the HOA, insurance company will have enough money to cover all of the lawsuits.

Controlled demolition

TRUST REAL STATE AGENTS!!! THEY WILL TELL YOU... HELL IS COLD 👹

this man is p divinely protected for sure...sir thankyou for speaking out...so sorry for this loss..i think there is more to it

Not sure how insurance will cover so many people's losses. Praying for all. Unimaginable...

I am not in any way an expert, but I have worked in construction all my life. It does seem pretty clear that all the support columns failed within seconds of each other. The second section begins to fall towards the first failure, but rapidly corrects to a straight down decent as the opposite columns obviously fail. I say obviously because no other event I am aware of could cause that change in velocity.

salt water rusting rebar , rebar expands breaking apart concrete.

I'm quite sure Surfside isn't the only building structurally unsafe to reside. Time to enforce repairs.

This is time to change. No more waiving of reserves. Full repairs as needed. This building should have been condemned. The state has the power to take over a condo in receivership, make the repairs and pass the cost to the owners. This was avoidable and everyone knew how bad this condo disrepair was. Sometimes the board just has to make the repairs but they were talking 15 million, 100K EACH, and those owners just did not have the money. They should have sold. Now they are gone

All the tenants fight paying any hikes in their HOA fees. And no way anyone of them wanted to pay that $100,000 assessment to repair the building. Over 500 repairs needed. They we’re doing patch jobs if anything.

I call it murder . Looked like controlled demolition . Cheap replacement for someone who has insurance on this property .

Condos built on the oceans edge days are over with these rising seas.

🙏🙏🙏

It is time to revise the laws which allow a board of non-experts to manage a complex and expensive high-rise building.

157 unaccounted for... my god... i don't think they gonna survive this...

No condo or hotel on the beach for me no more.

This guy needs to let the dust settle. Literally and figuratively. He was rescued and so many of his friends and neighbors didn't stand a chance. Still, I'm glad he's suing. I hope every survivor does. There was off-the-charts negligence in this case. I'm mad, too.

Sue the fuckkkkkkm out of them

Doesn't he understand when he gets a judgement from the HOA, they make the owners pay that bill. He's suing himself.

Yep, bad management

💯 negligence…. So sad for people….

These idiots filing law suits should be sued themselves for not saying anything, or taking any action years ago. They continued living there despite the repairs needed.

Just because you lived there doesn't mean you are suddenly an expert on engineering!

He needs to sue.

I'll bet beachfront condo prices everywhere have dropped by 50% or more since this tragedy occurred. Any realtors out there to verify?

There should be prison sentences

Filing suit, imagine that.

I also think that while the HOA knew things were dangerous, some occupants knew sa well and couldn't just abandon their property.

Sue them into Oblivion!!!!!

Don't these condominiums function like regular homes when it comes to repairs. If these were apartments they didn't own than the path to liability would be simple no?

There might should even be charges pressed against anybody who knew the condition of the building and turned a blind eye to it

The building engineer should have been aware of the building’s deterioration, imo…

they deserve to be sued these people did not deserve that they dont care about people lives these days that's mess up they only care about there pockets they need to be set an example

I read they just took out a 12 million dollar loan for repairs. The tenants get copies of repirts. They knew about 2018 report but at a meeting with building officials they were told IT WAS SAFE. that's the head that needs to roll.

Filing a lawsuit before the dead are even properly buried, so American.

Yaaaaaay, let’s sue F’ING people in less than a week……. WHAT. A SCUMBAG………

Negligent is a common sense to some HOA. I complained my next door neighbor's grasses are 18 inches high. But, HOA said, not violation. I said, “OK,” but do not complain me if I do the same thing.

Refused to do major repair but continued renting out. Sigh! 🤐🤐

not trying to be mean but if he felt unsafe why didnt he move, now its a problem

If that gentleman lived there for 20 years why was he not aware and speaking up at his homeowners association meetings keeping them diligent about the building maintenance. He is in part at fault for not being involved in the process of the HOA proceedings.

I think the prices have collapsed already fearing other buildings may have the same destiny.

True! So true. Tx fan

He is Blessings too be alive,NEGLIGENCE cost people life, SHAMEFUL. 😪🙏

There ya go buddy.. Filed a lawsuit before they’ve even dug out your neighbors. Class act. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Wow really? He has every right to sue, but this is his priority while his neighbors bodies haven't even been recovered yet! Then make a joke about no condo on the beach. Wow! Guess I was raised different.

Normal people do not talk 2 reporters.

A lot of people died, if I was this guy I wouldn't be telling my "story" in front of the camera while still been alive and not even injured.. Making it about him...

He is suing the HOA. There is no HOA anymore

These were probably originally apartments. When the building started having problems they sold them as condos

Live next to the Ocean?….there’s always a great risk for that expensive view

If he was so aware why was he there?

Charge them for fraud

Partial blame will be spread to a few people, so the worst that will happen is a slap on the wrist for everyone. The engineer hired will be partially blamed for not raising a bigger alarm. The condo association will be blamed for not doing repairs fast enough. The condo association will blame the engineers for not telling them the building will need to be repaired ASAP. Everyone will blame a defunct corporation from 40 years ago that designed and built the condo. In the end, each victim's family will get $200,000 and their lawyers will get $400,000.

That is why I did not want to buy any condo any where. Single family home is the best choice.

Remember, the only ones who are going to win here are the lawyers.

Sadly the whole country. No maintenance on hardly anything

As insurance companies try to figure out how to prevent a payout...

All you have to do is look at who was _trying to sell_ because they KNEW but didn't tell. THOSE are the criminals.

There was an earthquake last week, 3.9, caused by the military.

This guy is gold for the media because he knows how to talk and describe perfectly what happened before the crash, so he and we deserve a full interview of at least half an hour! In Fox News, for example, he talked about the whole chain of events until the tenants reached the renewal agreement that cost him 135k 800$ per month for 20 years, from which one begins to understand why the "repair" was delayed and why the state does not participate (and will now cost the state much more)

in boston we check our buildings every five years and we don't have hurricanes every year. American runs on greed not dunkins

I hope everyone Sues the crap out of the hoa! They think they can bully and take money and get away with anything.

These condo owners "are" the HOA. they probably knew about the report about repairs, they probably talked about how much does it cost for repair. If there are enough greedy owners who never agree to pay for the repair and nothing can be done to the building. They are now just trying to find some way to have HOA company insurance policy to pay for the lost rather than tapping into their own Airbnb juiced bank account. Instead renter should sue those rich greedy owners for the lost.

How can the HOA be sued board members lived in building all dead? Also asking for HOA minutes, transcripts. Member's computers destroyed. Maybe records can be accessible through outside computers figuring out security codes??

Even a mild tremor in Miami, and the entire city will be toast. Theres saltwater eating away at many of the other oceanfront properties. The high rises they built in Sunny Isles is utterly reckless

US ANTIQUE INFRASTRUCTURE: "The eyes of history are on this appointment." - Buttigeig. 1964 Japan's first bullet trains were put in service and the the first Beatles album was released. 1998 China started the construction of 36,000km of high speed railways and high speed trains. 2021 US still has NO high speed trains and NO safe overpasses or apartment blocks.

Steve, who told you the building fell directly through lack of maintenance? Where is the report? Repairs were due but did the failure to have it done a direct cause of the collapse? Again, where is the certified report that says this exactly?

So where is the support for Flint Michigan