MIAMI – The judge who presided over the civil trial stemming from the 2021 Surfside building collapse that killed 98 people is preparing to leave the bench.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael A. Hanzman tendered his resignation on Monday citing a decision to embark on “the next chapter” of his career.
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“I can unhesitantly say that these twelve (12) years of meaningful public service have been the most fulfilling and rewarding of my almost forty (40) year professional career,” Hanzman wrote in his resignation letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Florida Bar admitted Hanzman on Oct. 25, 1985, after he graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He went on to become a civil trial attorney who practiced complex commercial litigation.
Hanzman’s career includes serving as a special master after U.S. farmers filed hundreds of lawsuits against DuPont in 1991 alleging that using Benlate caused millions of dollars in crop damages.
Hanzman had also been involved in tobacco mass tort cases when former Gov. Rick Scott appointed him to the bench in 2011. He served as an associate judge on the 4th District Court of Appeal in 2013 and 2014.
After serving in the dependency division, he transferred to the civil division in 2016, and he served again on the 4th District Court of Appeal in 2017.
Hanzman’s term with the Florida 11th Circuit Court.was supposed to end on Jan. 7, 2025, but his resignation letter announced that his last day is March 31.
Read the letter
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.