Segue Construction

The California Contractors State License Board has released new information regarding the June 2015 balcony collapse investigation in the wake of a recent partial settlement between the victims of the balcony collapse and some of the defendants.

A bill written in response to a balcony collapse in Berkeley last year requiring building contractors to report felony convictions against them will advance Friday to the California State Assembly floor.

A U.S. Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that the victims of last year’s Downtown Berkeley balcony collapse accident may press for punitive damages against the building’s owner, manager and construction company.

Enforcement staff at the Contractors State License Board, or CSLB, have determined that five contractors involved in the construction of a balcony that collapsed last June probably violated California law, potentially leading to the suspension or revocation of the contractors’ licenses.

The beige walls of the Library Gardens apartment complex flickered with reflections of emergency lights, a grim parallel to the red party cups littering the pale gray sidewalk, lying among the rubble. Before anyone could question what had led to the tragedy, paramedics first needed to determine who had even survived it, sifting through the wreckage of a fallen balcony.

Bereaved families and surviving victims of the June balcony collapse have filed a total of 12 civil lawsuits against the building’s owner and manager as well as the construction firm that built the balcony.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office conducted destructive testing in the presence of relevant witnesses as part of their investigation into the cause of the balcony collapse that killed six and injured seven in Berkeley in June.

A state Assembly committee voted Tuesday against advancing a bill that would require contractors to self-report any criminal convictions or large settlements resulting from building defects.

A court denied Segue Construction Inc. — the company responsible for constructing the balcony that collapsed in June and killed six — the right to participate in testing evidence during the criminal investigation into the collapse.

The company responsible for the construction of the apartment complex where a balcony collapsed in June alleged damage of evidence by the city of Berkeley during the city’s investigation into the collapse.