After eight years, the family of a New York musician who drowned trying to save another vacationer in the waters off Miami Beach won a $5 million verdict in their suit against the city.

U.S. District Judge Alan Goal ordered Delaware-based Monticello Insurance Co. to pay the damages to the wife of Zachary Breaux, a jazz musician who leapt into the water in 1997 to save Eugenie Poleyeff, a New York school secretary, according to the Miami Herald. Both drowned in the water’s dangerous rip currents, minus both warning flags of strong winds and city lifeguards on duty, according to the report.

Monticello had refused to pay a settlement between the families of both drowning victims reached with the City of Miami Beach, seeking a court judgment on whether they were liable for the city. Both families sued the city claiming they should have had lifeguards and riptide warnings at the public beach where the drowning occurred.

After state circuit and appellate courts did not advance the case to trial, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that cities, like private landowners, have a responsibility to warn those on their beaches of dangerous conditions that are known or should be known.

“The city at the time had created the appearance of a protected beach,” attorney Howard Pomerantz, who represented the Breaux family, said in a statement.

Soon after the drownings, he noted, the city erected a lifeguard stand at the beach.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the city negotiated settlements with the families, which Monticello then refused to pay.

“The city long ago realized that if this went to trial, a jury sympathetic to the Breaux family’s case could return a huge verdict,’” Pomerantz said. “The city wanted to do the right thing and settle with the victims, but they became a victim themselves when Monticello abandoned them by denying both coverage and defense.”

In addition to awarding Breaux’s family $5 million, the federal judge also ordered Monticello to pay $750,000 in damages to Poleyeff’s husband, Rabbi Israel Poleyeff.

Monticello was also ordered to reimburse Miami Beach for its $200,000 obligation under the settlements, according to the Herald, and to pay interest on the damages as well as attorney’s fees and costs in the case.

Monticello can still appeal the federal court ruling.