A dozen lawsuits were filed on Thursday afternoon in connection with the Berkeley balcony collapse that killed six college students earlier this year.
Students were killed when the balcony gave way during a party on June 16. Five of the six students were Irish Nationals in the country as part of an exchange program.
The civil lawsuits being filed on behalf of seven survivors and the families of five who died are against the apartment complex's owner, the contractor and the property firm that manages it.
The lawsuit claims the property manager continued to rent the units despite complaints about wood rot in the balcony.
[PHOTOS]Berkeley Balcony Collapses at 21st Birthday Party
"The suit also alleges that tenants who lived in the same apartment between 2008 and 2010 observed and reported large mushrooms growing from the surface of the balcony," attorneys said in a press release. "These mushrooms were the fruiting body of the moisture-induced rot that was deteriorating the wooden support joists. The complex's owner and managers did nothing in response."
There are 39 defendants named in the lawsuits.
