Balcony Collapse Kills Five

4th Floor Balcony Collapses During Birthday Party

Imagine one moment enjoying an evening with some friends, drinking to someone’s birthday, when suddenly the ground simply gives out from under your very feet. This was the experience of a group of Irish students who had gathered to celebrate a friend’s 21 ^st birthday.

On June 16, 2015, a balcony collapsed from the 4 ^th floor of an apartment building, killing 5 and injuring 7 others. The incident happened around 12:40 am, about 2 blocks from the UC Berkeley campus when, for as of yet unknown reasons, the balcony gave away, complete tore apart from the apartment building and fell upside down to the balcony below. According to the police, there were at least 13 people on the balcony at the time it collapsed. The victims were the attendees of the birthday party – 5 of them died on scene, while 7 others had to be taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

While the reasons behind the collapse are not yet known, it may be due to improper maintenance of the apartment building. If this is the case here, then the family members of the decedents and injured victims may bring a claim against the owner of the property for their negligent maintenance, which led to the incident, and may be able to recover for their losses.