Elkasimi v. Soho WP / BE-1 Concept Holdings (Park Social Winter Park Staircase Premises-Liability Verdict)
An Orange County, Florida jury awarded more than $644.7 million to Karim Elkasimi, who was left partially quadriplegic after falling down a steep, narrow, ungripped staircase while leaving Park Social, a second-story Winter Park bar, in 2017. The verdict named property-owning and bar-operating entities Soho WP and BE-1 Concept Holdings, after evidence showed a safer staircase existed but had been restricted to employees until the day after the fall.
Why it matters
One of the largest premises-liability verdicts on record, and a pointed reminder that a pre-code building feature put to modern commercial use does not shield an owner or operator from liability, and that landlords can be swept into liability alongside operating tenants for a structural hazard like a stairway. Owners of older mixed-use and hospitality buildings should treat it as a prompt to audit grandfathered stairways and egress routes still in daily public use.
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