The Haggard Law Firm’s Kimberly Wald and Michael Haggard have obtained a $1 Million pre-suit settlement in a negligent security case involving a 22-year-old shot outside a pop-up club in Brevard County. Wald successfully resolved this case within the first month of her joining The Haggard Law Firm.
On Halloween night 2021, Levontay Thomas was in the parking lot of the Bee Hive Lounge, a pop-up club in the Arlington Pines Shopping Plaza. A group of men began shooting into the crowd in the parking lot and Thomas was one of their victims. He was shot in his left leg. Since the shooting, Thomas has developed compartment syndrome which is a condition in which increased pressure within one of the body’s anatomical compartments results in insufficient blood supply to tissue within that space. He underwent multiple surgical fasciotomies and had several complications including infections and extensive wound care. He remains at risk of amputation. To date, Thomas has had eight surgeries.
“This is a life-changing tragedy that could have been prevented if the defendants had taken action after years of notice from a series of consistent violent acts on the same property where Thomas was shot,” says Wald.
Kimberly Wald, trial lawyer, The Haggard Law Firm
Three years before the Thomas shooting there were reports of a man claiming to be a security guard for the property and threatening to shoot people in the parking lot. In that case, the property owner acknowledged this man was not a security because the plaza did not have any security whatsoever. Despite this prior incident, Arlington Pines not only allowed an unlicensed, unauthorized club to operate on their premises but did not enact any additional security measures to prevent the crime to repeat itself. This was only one example of continuous crimes, suspicious incidents, and security check reports on the property. The crimes included multiple batteries, shootings, thefts (including a gun stolen from a vehicle), substance abuse calls, and criminal mischiefs.
“With the ongoing history of violence and danger on this property it is no surprise that our client was the victim of gun violence outside a club that never should have been allowed to operate,” says Wald.
