Trial Magazine

Omarie Stephens, 30, went to a restaurant at the Lauderhill Mall. That day, a car show was taking place in the mall’s parking lot, and thousands of people and cars were on the premises. Two men in the parking lot had an altercation, and shots were fired. Stephens, a bystander, was fatally injured. He is survived by his two minor children.

Stephens’s estate sued the security company that the mall had hired, alleging the defendant failed to patrol the parking lot and remove trespassers. The plaintiff claimed that people on the premises had been taking drugs and drinking alcohol and the event was unsupervised.

The parties settled for $1 million policy limits.

Citation: Stephens v. State Security, Inc., No. CACC20-1522 (Fla. Cir. Ct. Broward Cty. July 31, 2020).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Todd Michaels and Michael Haggard, both of Coral Gables, Fla.