The families of the six students who died and the seven who survived the tragic balcony collapse in Berkeley, California in 2015 have settled in their case against the corporate owner and the property manager of the building in question, the Irish Times reports.
The sum the relatives received remains confidential, but it is said to be in the multimillions of U.S. dollars.
Irish students Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Lorcán Miller, Nick Schuster, and Eimear Walsh, all aged 21, and 22-year-old Ashley Donohoe from California died when the fourth-floor balcony collapsed in the wee hours of the morning on June 16, 2015.
Aoife Beary, Clodagh Cogley, Seán Fahey, Conor Flynn, Jack Halpin, Niall Murray, and Hannah Waters survived the fall but sustained serious injuries.
The students had gathered to celebrate a 21st birthday. All of them were visiting on J-1 student visas, with the exception of Ashley.
The apartment block, called Library Gardens, was discovered to have been built with unsuitable materials that caused dry rot in the wooden supports of the balcony.
A partial settlement was reached in May, but they still had not reached an agreement with one of the building contracting companies.
The relatives have now settled with Blackrock, one of the largest investment companies globally, and Greystar, the biggest manager of apartments in the U.S. Both the families and survivors argued that the owners and managers should have been aware of the mushrooms growing on the balcony, caused by dry rot, which signalled a collapse may be imminent.
According to the Irish Times, the lawyer for Ashley Donohoe’s family, Eustace de Saint Phalle, said, “The Donohoe family was insistent that there could be no ‘secret settlement’ designed to prevent the parties from discussing the facts of the case and what they believe to be the cause of this tragedy.”
Apparently, Segue Construction, which built the apartments, has paid millions in the past to settle claims against their shoddy workmanship, including rotting balconies.
Ashley’s family are determined to make sure that secret settlements are banned and that proper materials are used in construction in order to keep other families from such suffering.
Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, the San Francisco law firm used by the families, said that neither Blackrock nor Greystar detected the dry rot during property inspections and that the victims were in no way responsible.
Both corporations have reportedly changed their inspection policies in response to what happened.
Our hearts go out to the families and the victims of this tragedy.
