Rohnert Park family reaches settlement over daughter’s 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse death

The family of a Rohnert Park woman killed in a 2015 balcony collapse at a Berkeley apartment complex has reached a settlement with the owner of the building, its management company and a real estate investment firm.

Jackie and George Donohoe reached the agreement on the death of their daughter, Ashley, 22, with the apartment owner’s real estate investment firm BlackRock, and management firm, Houston-based Greystar. Donohoe, a Sonoma State University student, and five other college students were killed in the June 16, 2015, incident that injured seven others.

The terms of the settlement were confidential.

It follows another agreement the families reached in May with the companies that designed and built the balcony that collapsed, sending the victims plummeting 50 feet to the street below. Building inspectors found that dry rot created by water damage had weakened the balcony.

The California Contractors State License Board charged the contractor “willfully departed from accepted trade standards for good and workmanlike construction” in building the complex.

The Donohoes’ niece, Olivia Burke, a 21-year-old college student from Ireland, also died in the collapse.

“The Donohoe family was insistent that there could be no ‘secret settlement’ designed to prevent the parties from discussing the facts of the case and what they believe to be the cause of this tragedy,” their attorney, Eustace de Saint Phalle, said in a statement.

The Donohoe family has fought for legislative changes to improve building code standards. Last year, the couple was at a signing ceremony for a new law requiring contractors to disclose within 90 days any work-related criminal convictions. It also established a working group to recommend new changes to the state building code.

The family is pushing for legislation that would require public disclosure of settlements contractors paid for defects in residential structures.

“Nothing will stop us from continuing our fight to have changes made to the California building codes and regulations to require regular inspections by qualified people, proper design and use of proper construction materials, and a ban on ‘secret settlements’ that allow contractors to hide defective construction work from the contractors licensing board and the public,” the family said in a statement released this week.