Feds try to block victims of Surfside condo collapse from accessing crucial evidence
After the deadly Surfside condo collapse, crucial pieces of evidence — including portions of columns, beams and slabs — were trucked away from the disaster site and stored in a Miami-Dade police warehouse.
The evidence is key, both for federal investigators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology seeking to understand what caused the collapse — and for attorneys for victims and defendants in a massive civil court case that will try to assign liability for an accident that claimed 98 lives at Champlain Towers South.
But now NIST and Miami-Dade County are trying to prevent experts for the attorneys from testing and sampling the materials.
At a Friday court hearing, an attorney for the county said that NIST had asserted its right to take sole control of the evidence — and that the county had agreed to cede control to the feds, despite a judge issuing a subpoena allowing parties in the lawsuit access to the warehouse.
In a letter NIST sent to Miami-Dade police on Friday, an official said the federal investigation was moving into “a more intense phase” and that the agency had a statutory duty to protect the evidence in the case.
“At this time, NIST will maintain exclusive custody and control of the debris to ensure the integrity of its investigation,” the letter to Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez III stated. “No third-party access to, or inspection or testing of, evidentiary debris will be permitted absent NIST’s express prior consent.”
Judge Michael Hanzman appeared outraged when informed of NIST and the county’s actions.
“I’m somewhat shocked, to be frank, that a federal agency would attempt to say that these civil litigants should be precluded from access to this evidence until we’re done with our investigation two to three years from now,” Hanzman said in a Zoom hearing with almost 250 participants. “They have the luxury of time. But these victims and these parties do not.”
The judge then denied a protective order sought by the county to prevent experts in the civil case from examining the evidence.
Anita Viciana, an attorney for the county, said sharing the evidence would “compromise” an active police investigation into the deaths.
Hanzman was skeptical.
“Are you suggesting to me the Miami-Dade Police Department is investigating the cause itself of the collapse?” he asked.
“I believe that is part of it,” Viciana replied.
But the judge determined that the county had cited “absolutely no authority” to keep the evidence to itself.
“This is material evidence ... that has been subpoenaed in this case,” Hanzman said. “I’m ordering that this evidence be made available to these litigants.”
He implored the plaintiffs, defendants, county, NIST and a receiver representing the condo association to work together to figure out a way to share the evidence before next Friday’s hearing. NIST was not represented at the hearing.
“I cannot believe that any government agency, whether it be NIST or the county, would have any desire to slow this case down a single day,” he said.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs — who include unit owners, survivors and family members of those who died — said the judge had done the right thing.
“The victims can’t be made to wait for years to gain access to critical evidence,” Harley Tropin and Rachel Furst wrote in an email.
Jennifer Huergo, a spokeswoman for NIST, said the National Construction Safety Team Act “gives NIST the responsibility and authority to investigate building failures [and] requires that NIST ‘preserves evidence related to the building failure, consistent with the ongoing needs of the investigation.’ ”
“NIST has therefore assumed custody and control of the evidence and will continue to cooperate while maintaining the integrity of its investigation,” she said.
The county mayor’s office commented: “Since the tragic collapse in Surfside, Miami-Dade County has been working collaboratively with all parties and agencies involved to help ensure as speedy a process as possible so families and survivors may receive the compensation they deserve and a comprehensive investigation may be completed to avoid similar tragedies. We will continue to work with federal agencies, the court, and the families and survivors as the investigation continues.”
The judge has set a trial date of March 2023 and urged all parties to work quickly so that victims can be compensated.
This story was originally published January 28, 2022 at 4:43 PM.
