You are looking at Buckley Towers in North Miami, just south of Broward, still standing after all these years. Barely.We know that South Florida is the center of Condo America. And many of them are populated by the elderly; senior citizens in the Fall of their lives. And they cannot afford to take a fall. So when Buckley Towers in North Miami came apart at the seams after Hurricane Wilma, the residents did not get angry. The commandos revolted, with lawyers leading the charge no less. Good ones. Guys like Daniel Rosenbaum.
Yes, it is a forty year old condo, but it was not meant to have a windstorm named Wilma blow it down after four decades. A global insurance giant, QBE, is going to have to pay the price. 20 million dollars worth. They did not want to though. Too bad.
Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum, the law firm representing the homeowners, hailed last Friday's verdict, after a two week federal trial, as a major precedent in hurricane insurance cases. They say it could have impact in New Orleans, Texas, and other venues where storms have wreaked havoc on man-made buildings. Attorneys for the insurance company blamed the building for having shoddy construction. Can’t say that would surprise me either. But that is what you pay insurance for, so you get help when you are hurting.
Unfortunately, that this went all the way to trial means that the big insurers were trying to screw the little insureds. More on this in today’s South Florida Business Journal. http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/02/09/daily56.html
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