California balcony fall victims settle with building owner

Downtown Berkeley viewed from the Berkeley Hills, with San Francisco in the background (Photo By User:Introvert – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5)

BERKELEY, Calif. — Relatives of six college students who died when a balcony collapsed in Berkeley, California, have reached a settlement with the owners of the apartment building and the company that managed it.

Attorney Joseph R. Lucia said in a statement Monday that terms of the settlement with owner BlackRock and management firm Greystar were confidential.

The students mostly from Ireland were at a June 2015 birthday party when the balcony collapsed and sent them 50 feet (15 metres) down to the street. Seven others were injured.

Previous tenants reported seeing mushrooms on the balcony, indicating rotting wood.

The dead included cousins Olivia Burke of Ireland and Ashley Donohoe of California.

Attorneys for the Donohoe family say they’ll continue pushing for changes to building codes and reporting requirements for shoddy construction work.