Tampa Team Secures Favorable Verdict for Client in Wrongful Death/Negligent Security Trial

Tampa, Fla. (December 12, 2025) - Tampa Partners John Rine and Nick Dareneau and Associate Robert Dominguez secured a highly favorable result in a wrongful death/negligent security matter in Duval County (Jacksonville) Florida. The plaintiff was represented by a top-notch negligent security firm in Florida.

The plaintiff’s teenage son was shot multiple times in the parking lot of the client’s complex and died as a result. The plaintiff’s counsel argued the following: that there was another shooting and a separate kidnapping at gunpoint about two years prior to this shooting and no change was made to security those incidents; that there were 22 pages of calls for service to the police in the three years prior to the shooting and multiple felonies, including multiple burglaries where guns were stolen and multiple violent and firearm charges; that the security officers failed to make the patrols that they were hired to make in the days leading up to the shooting and actually completely failed to even visit the property on several nights; and that the overall level of security was inadequate.

As expected, the jury found the complex liable. However, the jury also found the shooter 70 percent comparatively liable, reducing the award by 70 percent. In this post-tort reform period, this was one of the first negligent security trials in Florida where the shooter was on the verdict form. 

The amount of the award was also favorable. It was less 25 percent of the amount that the plaintiff’s counsel requested from the jury. The award was also less than half of the settlement demand from the plaintiff prior to the verdict and less than the amount offered by the insurance carrier.