“All of us from the building were very close and supportive after the collapse but since the settlement we don’t talk, there’s a lot of resentment and anger. The lawyers didn’t fight for us and wound up getting paid more than us,” Nir said. “The judge was called a hero but he did a horrible job. Not in the range of the families of those who died, but closer to covering their losses and the trauma treatment they will require for years, if not a lifetime. Survivors who are struggling emotionally and financially felt they deserved a bigger piece of the pie once the billion-dollar settlement - much higher than initially expected - was reached with the defendants’ insurance companies. Nir was upset by how lawyers and the judge congratulated themselves on a huge settlement that left many survivors and family members of victims embittered. Hanzman had warned throughout the process that it would be impossible to decide on a value for each individual that would please everyone but that the awards were fair, similar to what a jury would have awarded, and in accordance with the law. The highest wrongful death award of about $35 million - based on projected lifetime earnings - went to the family of a victim aged in their mid-20s.

Owners were unhappy with awards that were far less than the market value of their condos, leaving them unable to buy anything comparable in Miami Beach or Miami. His mother is a teacher at a Jewish school. Nir’s father Eyal (who was in Atlanta at the time of the collapse) is a jeweler. He tutors students but has been unable to hold down a full-time job because he was calling in sick too often. In May 2021, Nir graduated from Georgia State with a chemistry degree and planned to apply to dental school. When the rescue teams arrived and the streets were blocked, the Nirs were told to go to the Surfside Community Center, which is where they spent the next three days. Sara knocked on doors, yelling “Earthquake! Evacuate!” Nir ran in Crocs and his sister wore a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head. He saw a woman pushing a stroller and screaming. He looked back and saw people streaming out of the section of the building that stayed intact.

The Nirs went out the glass front doors and ran down the street as a huge ball of white dust and smoke chased them.

A federal investigation of the causes of the disaster is ongoing and projected to be completed in 2025. Seven minutes later, two sections of the tower fell. While they were talking, the pool deck collapsed into the parking garage below, setting in motion the progressive structural failure that would break the columns supporting the building. Sara went to the lobby to complain to security guard Shamoka Furman. They heard banging noises from above and a boom-boom-boom sequence, “like someone was moving furniture or hammering picture hangers into the walls,” Nir said. Gabe was cooking salmon, Chana was in the shower after a babysitting job and Sara was typing on her cell phone. On the night of the collapse, Nir, his mother Sara and his sister Chana were awake inside unit 111, right next to the pool deck. I stay up at night to make sure we’re safe.” “When Champlain went down, I asked my mom, ‘Is this Round 2?’” Nir said.

Champlain tower south condos