Berkeley apartments builder paid off expensive law suits for bad balcony building

The mayor of Berkeley Tom Bates has said that it is important to wait before pushing for a criminal investigation into the collapse of the balcony which killed six students.

Local court reports show that the builder of the Berkeley apartments had paid $3m in lawsuits because of alleged bad balcony-building practices.

The building and safety department investigators are due to publish their findings soon.

Mayor of Berkeley Tom Bates said that it is important to wait for the results before talk of pursuing criminal investigation.

"Was it shoddy workmanship? Was it inappropriate types of wood? Was it wood rot? Were there other factors that we're not aware of that could have caused it? I think we need to take a deep breath and say, we're going to find out soon," said the Mayor.