A Florida judge said Wednesday that the lawsuit involving the collapse of the 12-story Surfside condominium that killed 98 will begin in March 2023.

The court date is about six months later than Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman had originally planned because the case will be unable to be tried in the fall of 2022, according to Michael Goldberg, a court-appointed receiver for the Champlain Towers condo association.

“That is a firm deadline, ladies and gentlemen. The case will be going to trial in March 2023,” Hanzman said in a virtual hearing.

Federal agencies are still investigating the case and will not reach a conclusion for several months.

The condo had substantial structural damage and was overdue for repairs. In 2018, structural engineering firm Morabito Consultations conducted an inspection of the dilapidated condo and estimated repairs would cost $9 million but were never completed.

“Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” consultant Frank Morabito wrote in his October 2018 report.

Morabito's report also detailed "significant cracks and breaks in the concrete" which required repairs in order to protect the residents. Morabito noted there was "abundant cracking and spalling of varying degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams, and walls."

"The corrosion on the bottom of that column is astronomical," Dawn Lehman, a professor of structural engineering at the University of Washington said in August, noting the amount of corrosion should have been obvious and that it should have been fixed.

The lawsuit argues that the evacuation, pile-driving, and other work that was done between 2016 and 2019 caused vibrations that weakened the structure of the building.

The defendants deny the construction of the 18-story Eight Seven Park building was responsible for the collapse. They contended a prior statement that Champlain Towers was “improperly designed, poorly constructed, and significantly underfunded.”

The lawsuit has not demanded a specific dollar amount in damages but it could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars due to wrongful death claims, according to attorneys.