Orange County Jury Awards $644.75 Million to Man Left Partially Paralyzed by Winter Park Bar Staircase Fall

On the night of November 25, 2017, Karim Elkasimi was leaving Park Social, a bar that occupied the second story of a 1926 building in Winter Park, Florida. On his way out he fell down a run of roughly 20 stairs. The fall fractured his neck and skull.

The injuries were catastrophic. Elkasimi, then 57, was left a partial quadriplegic. He has no sensation from the chest down and almost no functional movement in his legs, arms, or torso. He also lost his senses of taste and smell. A single trip down a staircase ended his physical independence for good.

His lawsuit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court, named Soho WP, LLC and BE-1 Concepts Holdings, LLC, the companies that owned and operated the bar. Represented by Morgan & Morgan, Elkasimi argued that the businesses knowingly sent patrons down a dangerous stairway. At trial, his lawyers pointed to stairs that were too narrow and too steep, treads without grip tape, and inadequate handrails. They also presented evidence that a safer staircase existed on the premises but had been restricted to employees, and that it was opened to the public only the day after the fall.

In March 2026, the jury returned a verdict of $644,751,855. The award included $166 million for past pain and suffering, $363 million for future pain and suffering, $109.5 million to Elkasimi's wife for loss of consortium and services, and about $6.25 million for medical expenses and lost earnings. 'Our client's injuries altered his life completely and permanently,' Morgan & Morgan attorney Brian McClain said after the verdict. Firm founder John Morgan called the case personal, noting that his own brother lived as a quadriplegic.

The verdict is not the end of the case. The defendants appealed, and the matter is now before Florida's Sixth District Court of Appeal, where trial transcripts were filed in August 2026 and the appeal remained pending. The judgment also runs against two limited liability companies, so even if the award survives appellate review, how much of it the family will actually collect is uncertain. Insurance coverage and the companies' assets, not the jury's numbers, will decide what is ultimately paid.

What the verdict does establish is the jury's answer on responsibility: the companies that ran Park Social were liable for the condition of the staircase their customers were told to use. The safer set of stairs stayed closed to the public until November 26, 2017, one day after Elkasimi fell.