Courthouses

Miami Courthouse Closed Over 'Safety Concerns'

The poor condition was known for 'quite some time.'

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The Dade County Courthouse. Photo by Marc Averette licensed under the Creative Commons.

Following the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in nearby Surfside, Florida, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse has been closed. Employees, who had only recently returned back to the building following the COVID-19 outbreak, will resume working remotely as the building undergoes repairs.

As reported by the Associated Press, the engineering firm that did the courthouse inspection of the 28 story building found issues that needed immediate repair — particularly on floors 16 and higher.

And, they found “deterioration” that was “documented and reported by this and other firms for quite some time now.”

In its report, engineering firm U.S. Structures Inc. said that during its June 30 inspection, it found structural distress in various structural members such as support beams and joists, including steel columns that are in “poor condition” and concrete columns that have numerous cracks.

“In general, we observed numerous members with visible signs of structural deterioration that have been documented and reported by this and other firms for quite some time now. Many of these members are in an advance state of deterioration,” inspector Jose Toledo wrote in the firm’s Tuesday letter to Miami-Dade County officials.

The courthouse was build in 1928, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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