An ordinary afternoon of car cleaning in a Homestead cul-de-sac ended with four gunshots and, years later, a $4 million civil judgment against a Miami landlord.
A jury found that Dama Holding LLC was negligent for failing to warn tenant Juan Guelmes about a pattern of crime around the cluster of homes where he lived. Guelmes was shot four times on August 29, 2014, while cleaning his car. On appeal, the Third District Court of Appeal said it was up to jurors to decide whether that violence was something the landlord should have seen coming.
Appeals court keeps $4M judgment
On Dec. 3, 2025, the appellate panel affirmed the trial court’s refusal to grant Dama’s motion for a directed verdict and left the $4 million verdict in place, finding that disputed evidence about prior crimes made foreseeability a jury question, according to the court opinion. The opinion explains that Dama owned multiple homes in the cul-de-sac and that jurors heard about burglaries, assaults and other incidents on and around those properties. Read the court’s decision at Justia.
Evidence jurors heard
At trial, a crime analyst testified that 351 crimes were recorded in the five years before the shooting within the police grid that includes the cul-de-sac. That tally included roughly 100 burglaries, more than 80 thefts and multiple assaults, and highlighted specific break-ins at homes owned by Dama, testimony and reporting show.
The parties also stipulated that Dama did not install cameras or gates, had no security budget or written security procedures, and that its property manager never warned tenants about prior incidents. Jurors also heard from Dama’s owner, who testified that he did not believe the company had a duty to warn tenants. Those points helped sway the panel, as reported by the Miami Herald.
How foreseeability works for landlords
Under Florida law, landowners generally do not have a duty to prevent completely unforeseeable third-party crimes. Courts have held, however, that a landlord-tenant relationship can create a duty to protect or to warn when prior, similar crimes put the landlord on notice…