Video: Opium Group to Pay $5 Million to Victim in Cameo Beating, Attorney Says

In the early morning of January 1, 2015, Mohamed Youness Adlan, a 22-year-old Moroccan student from Rhode Island, was found unconscious and beaten outside Miami Beach’s Cameo nightclub. The beating left Adlan, who was visiting Miami on vacation, in a coma for three months. Police later arrested a Cameo nightclub bouncer — Cody Quaife, AKA Q, a 34-year-old who stands six-foot-four and weighs 265 pounds.

Today, an attorney representing Adlan's family says they've reached a settlement with Cameo and Opium Group for $5 million. Though Opium Group sold Cameo Nightclub in March, it owned the venue at the time of the attack.

The lawsuit was originally brought forth by Jeffrey Altman of the Altman Law Firm; then the Coral Gables-based Haggard Law Firm joined the case. Najem Adlan, Mohamed’s father, alleged that Cameo and Opium Group should have done a better job vetting its bouncers. In their official complaint, they state:

Defendant, CAMEO, had a duty to make an appropriate investigation into Cody James Quaife’s background before hiring him to perform services that would require him to engage people, including ADLAN.

Had Defendant, CAMEO, investigated the background of Cody James Quaife would have revealed a criminal history that would have precluded him from being able to perform the duties Defendant CAMEO allowed him to perform.

Opium Group has agreed to pay $5 million in damages to Mohamed Youness Adlan, says the Haggard firm in a release this morning.

Adlan is out of his coma now but is faces a long road of physical rehab. He is able to move his arms and legs but still cannot cook, bathe, or go the bathroom without assistance. 

Today, security video from the night of the assault was released. In the footage, you can see Adlan emerge from the door at 00:10, wearing a hat. Quaife walks into the frame at 00:30, smoking either a cigar or a cigarette and carrying a bag. He then pulls someone out of the door. The person was apparently not affiliated with Adlan at all. Adlan was by himself after losing track of his friend inside the club, according to attorneys. The altercation happens slightly offscreen around 1:13. It was then, attorneys claim, that Adlan lay unconscious without proper medical assistance after getting knocked out by Quaife.
"Bars and clubs should be more thorough in who they hire and the security policies they put into place so no other family faces the hardships the Adlans experience every day," the attorneys write in a release on the settlement. (No one answered a call from New Times at Opium Group, which now goes by the name Icon Hospitality).

As for Quaife, he's still awaiting trial on one count of felony battery. Miami Beach Police interviewed four witnesses to Quaife’s assault that night. In their police report, they write:

The defendant [Quaife] and the victim were facing each other on the north side of the 200 block of Espanola Way, which is adjacent to the nightclub. The defendant, unprovoked, then struck the victim in the face one time, causing the victim to fall back and strike his head on the sidewalk. The defendant then walked away from the victim without rendering aid.