The theory is mostly undebated and unproven. The money is real.

Insurers for companies that built the luxury tower next door to the Champlain Towers South—the去年六月的部分崩溃是历史上最致命的公寓之一—are coughing up about $200 million in a tentative settlement of a class-action negligence lawsuit by the collapse victims' families and survivors.

The tentativesettlement5月12日在迈阿密戴德巡回法院宣布的所有剩下的被告和一家不是被告的公司中，为9.97亿美元。

自11月以来，原告的中心要求是六六名新被告人的目标，是隔壁建造的高层公寓基础的振动板钢板安装是发生夜间部分崩溃的主要因素大约五年后，即2021年6月24日，造成98人丧生。

Images from latest lawsuit version show the new building in early construction and the footpath along its property line (left) and a still image from the only video of the actual collapse, taken from a camera on the neighboring property.

随着悲剧成立一周年的临近，原告的主要理论（将诉讼扩展到包括隔壁建造的建筑物以及定居的被告的建筑物）提出了一个大问号。

根据法庭记录，到5月初，隔壁大楼的开发人员，唱片建筑师和主要承包商，现已被称为87公园的87号大街，仍在与幸存者和受害者家人的指控作斗争。

Several engineers have postulated that a critical area in the investigation, the pool deck, pulled away from the perimeter wall between the properties and pulled down the front of Champlain Towers South's larger wing.

But the argument made by the plaintiffs—that vibratory pile installation near the property line for the new building inflicted critical wounds on Champlain Towers South—struck two independent engineers as no more than a question mark given the still far-from-complete data and complex investigations.

华盛顿大学民用与环境工程学教授Dawn E. Lehman根据其设计对South South建模，并对崩溃的法医工程进行了许多演讲，对该主题进行了更为保守的看法。她说，墙上的损坏是不平衡的，并提出了问题。但是，没有足够的信息来说明发生了什么。

她说，与桩安装损坏有关的理论将需要岩土工程师的输入，他需要评估土壤剖面。她说：“我没有。”

Neither does Allyn Kilsheimer, the investigative engineer hired by the city of Surfside to complete its own inquiry. He agrees that much more investigating and testing needs to be done before he could offer an opinion about the neighboring property vibration theory. "I don't know a lot about soil," he told ENR, noting that he uses a prestigious geotechnical consultant to help him with that part of his company's investigations. Both Lehman and Kilsheimer say authoritative statements about what happened will take more time.

到目前为止，尚普兰塔（Champlain Towers South）的众多潜在缺陷包括设计不良和混凝土结构，水入侵和腐蚀以及缺乏昂贵的维护。广泛关注的是在物业边界附近的泳池区域。

The collapse's trigger event has not been authoritatively pinpointed, nor all the contributing factors. And that knowledge vacuum has been filled with theories as investigations drag onward. The final report from the federal国家标准& Technologycould take many more months.

同时，那些遭受重大个人和经济损失的人在很大程度上没有补偿。

寻求最深的口袋和被保险的被告人在疏忽和人身伤害审判中并不是什么新鲜事物。但是，令人震惊的事件，情感上的死亡以及对南佛罗里达州建设世界业务的批判性观点提升了有关尚普兰塔以南以南的尚普兰塔的发现。

悲剧发生后不久，《华盛顿邮报》的一项调查首先提出了隔壁项目可能损害的问题。

But it wasn't until late summer and early fall 2021 that the plaintiffs began issuing subpoenas to companies that worked on the neighboring structure, known as Eighty Seven Park.

A New Version of Lawsuit

On November 16, the plaintiffs issued a new lawsuit. Instead of focusing on lax attention to fixing defects by the condo association, it claimed that Champlain Towers South was an older building in need of routine repairs and maintenance but it was not until construction began next door that the building "became so badly damaged and destabilized as to be unsafe," the lawyers for the families and survivors wrote.

The Champlain Towers South pool deck adjoined the building’s south foundation wall, which abutted a beach access walkway that the defendants built.

Immediately beneath the pool deck, dozens of concrete columns supported the 120-space parking garage and pool deck.

"Tragically, construction at Eighty Seven Park irreversibly damaged key structural elements, including the pool deck and support columns. Once these elements failed, the tower was incapable of standing," the lawsuit claimed.

According to the newest claims, after acquiring the public street separating the structures, the developer's construction team excavated "a mere ten feet" from Champlain Towers South's exterior foundation wall and support columns and drove 40-ft-long sheet piles.

When it came to choosing a method for installing the piles, the new lawsuit claims, the Eighty Seven Park construction team chose a less costly method that generated a higher level of vibrations than alternative methods. During the work the vibrations regularly exceeded a maximum goal the team had set for vibrations of .5 in./second, especially during a critical three-week period of the construction.

As residents next door complained about the disturbing vibrations and possible damage, the lawsuit claims, the contractors and subcontractors and developers forged ahead with the pile work.

For the lawsuit, Miami-Dade circuit state court Judge Michael Hanzman worked to keep trial plans from being pushed too far into 2023. And momentum for settlements increased. In February and early March, the insurer for the condominium association's consulting engineer, Morabito Consultants, who evaluated the building and recommended repairs,settled针对该公司的诉讼费用为1600万美元。公寓协会的律师事务所同时以3,100万美元的价格解决了索赔。

In a statement, Morabito Consultants praised the settlement as wise while saying that its work on Champlain Towers South was consistent with industry standards.

Simultaneously, DeSimone Consulting Engineers, the structural engineer of record for Eighty Seven Park, agreed to settle for $8.55 million, according to court documents.

The remaining Eighty Seven Park defendants continued to fight the lawsuits against them—and to deny any blame for what happened.

And the attorneys for the survivors and victims' families continued in a third amended complaint, filed March 10, to expand the list of defendants to include Stantec Architecture, the project's architect of record beginning in 2015. Renzo Piano was Eighty Seven Park's main conceptual designer.

Except for the separate settlement by DeSimone Consulting Engineers, which could not be reached for comment, there’s no confirmed way to know yet how much the key defendants from Eight Seven Park are contributing to the settlement, or exactly who is in it.

How the defendants feel about being associated with the devastating partial collapse is clear.

Stantec Architecture，在4月29日提交的文件中否认那是疏忽的。该公司否认，尚普兰塔南公寓协会在该结构的维护中进行的“普通勤奋”可以节省它，除了据称造成了八十七公园的损害。

该项目的主要承包商佛罗里达州的约翰·莫里亚蒂（John Moriarty＆Associates）在4月14日对诉讼的回应中否认其工作造成了任何损害或对尚普兰塔南部的结构完整性产生任何影响。正如诉讼所声称的那样，它否认带有振动锤的板岩安装是“超仇恨或异常危险”。莫里亚蒂（Moriarty）澄清说，只有桩的安装，而不是用锤子驾驶的。

八十七公园的开发商8701 Collins Development的律师迈克尔·托马斯（Michael Thomas）确实提出了该和解的声明。他说，“ 0ur客户的保险公司”正在做出“定居”的“商业决定”，以解决针对他们的索赔，并避免时间，费用和诉讼的不便。”

"It is neither an admission of liability nor recognition of the validity of any of the plaintiffs’ claims," he added. "The design, development and construction of [Eighty Seven Park] in no way caused or contributed to the collapse of Champlain Towers South. Our clients categorically deny any allegation to the contrary."