Koty Stewart, a 34-year-old man from Jacksonville, died on May 25 at Ginnie Springs—where more than 20,000 visitors descended for Memorial Day weekend—after getting shot in the head. 

On Thursday, what would have been Stewart’s fifth wedding anniversary, Campione Law filed a lawsuit on behalf of his wife, Amber, and their daughter, charging Ginnie Springs Outdoors with negligence.  

Chris Campione said in a phone interview that he had personally known Stewart for around five years. Stewart had worked for Campione and told him that he planned to go to Ginnie Springs with his wife for the weekend.  

“It’s very personal to me as well,” Campione said.  

Antoine Pecko, an attorney at Campione Law, will lead the case. He’s worked on several similar negligence cases and said the Ginnie Springs Outdoors lawsuit might be the strongest.  

He called Ginnie Springs a gem of North Florida, and the Stewarts visited several times. But Pecko said an escalation of debauchery—like drugs, excessive and underage drinking—and a series of failures on the part of the management led to loss of life.  

And not just Stewart’s life.  

Stewart died on Saturday, May 25. Another Ginnie Springs visitor was shot the next night and died a few days later.  

Pecko also pointed to past events.  

The Gainesville Sun reported in 2021 that Memorial Day weekend resulted in 74 calls for service coming from inside Ginnie Springs to the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO). Law enforcement arrested 10 people and wrote 18 additional reports from that weekend. 

“This is a privately owned park open to the public that has different rules than the state parks. They allow for alcohol, people driving around to the different campsites, loud music,” GCSO spokesperson Lt. Keagon Weatherford said at the time. 

On Memorial Day weekend in 2023, a woman died when she fell off the back of a pickup truck and was run over by the trailer being pulled. 

A citizens group in 2020 started a Facebook page about the issue: Citizens for Holding Ginnie Springs Accountable. This year in a Facebook post about Memorial Day weekend, the business advised families of what to expect.  

“Memorial Day weekend at Ginnie Springs is an adult weekend with a party atmosphere. We do not recommend it for children,” the post said in small print at the bottom. 

Pecko said Stewart’s death, a gunshot to the head, comes on top of these other incidents. As the Fourth of July approaches, he said he wouldn’t take his family there or recommend the spot.

Pecko said it’s not about one thing that Ginnie Springs Outdoors could have done to prevent the death but the many things that the management failed to do—like enforce their own stated policies.  

Social media posts from Ginnie Springs Outdoors reinforce the lawsuit, Pecko said, with posts promoting a party extravaganza environment. Pecko said people can do whatever they want once they pass through the gates.  

Pecko added that the company has the ability to make changes. The GSCO estimated more than 20,000 people flocked to Ginnie Springs over this year’s Memorial Day weekend. 

Pecko said Ginnie Springs Outdoors estimated 25,000-30,000 people—matching the estimate from 2021. Pecko said entry passes differ in price, but assuming a $20 entrance fee per person, the company made more than half a million dollars that weekend.  

He said companies have a legal responsibility to ensure a safe environment for patrons. The company should have known that not enforcing policies on drinking, weapons and drugs would lead to a dangerous environment and injuries, Pecko said. 

The charges brought against Ginnie Springs Outdoors are as follows:  

• Failing to provide adequate security measures for its visitors, guests, invitees, and the public. 

• Failing to warn its visitors, guests, invitees, and the public of the nature and character of its premises when it knew or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known that numerous criminal incidents and dangerous activities occurred on the Subject Premises and areas adjacent thereto prior to the Subject incident. 

• Failing to police, patrol, guard, deter, and otherwise provide adequate protection for its visitors, guests, invitees, and the public. 

• Failing to hire and/or retain adequate security personnel to patrol and/or monitor the premises and the surrounding parking areas. 

• Failing to provide proper and sufficient lighting for the Subject Premises. 

• Failing to have adequate surveillance and monitoring throughout the Subject Premises. 

• Failing to implement adequate security policies, security measures, and security procedures. 

• Additional acts of negligence not yet discovered. 

In December, a Gainesville jury ruled against Swamp Car Wash for failing to install safety measures and provide a safe environment, resulting in a $7.5 million settlement for the family of a man killed there.   

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Stewart’s estate asks for the “loss of prospective net accumulations of the estate; all medical and funeral expenses charged to the estate, and all such other damages as are allowable under the law.” 

Sam Hartiens, another attorney for Campione Law, said not just the prevention aspect has been lacking but also the response. He said onlookers tried to help Stewart while bleeding out. They said that Ginnie Springs Outdoors staff didn’t arrive for at least 20 minutes after the gunshots, which happened a little after midnight. 

Campione noted that you can’t put a business in jail. These lawsuits are how you get justice. He said a new state law passed in 2023, HB 837, will make it harder to hold businesses accountable moving forward.  

“It’s going to be an uphill battle; we know that,” Campione said. 

Pecko added that hopefully the lawsuit prompts changes so that visitors can enjoy Ginnie Springs in the future.

Ginnie Springs did not respond to a request for comment for this story.