Florida Senate - 2020                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 4
       
       
       
       
       
       
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                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/20/2020           .                                
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       The Committee on Judiciary (Flores) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are
    6  found and declared to be true.
    7         Section 2. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is
    8  authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the Palm
    9  Beach County Sheriff’s Office not otherwise encumbered and to
   10  draw a warrant in the sum of $4.5 million as follows: up to $3
   11  million payable to Evett L. Simmons, as guardian of the property
   12  of Dontrell Stephens, to purchase a life care plan for Dontrell
   13  Stephens as compensation for injuries and damages sustained; and
   14  $1.5 million to pay attorney fees, lobbying fees, and costs
   15  relating to this claim.
   16         Section 3. The amount paid by the Palm Beach County
   17  Sheriff’s Office pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and
   18  the amount awarded under this act are intended to provide the
   19  sole compensation for all present and future claims arising out
   20  of the factual situation described in this act which resulted in
   21  injuries suffered by Dontrell Stephens. The total amount paid
   22  for attorney fees relating to this claim may not exceed 25
   23  percent of the amount awarded under this act.
   24         Section 4. Excluding the federal portions of any liens,
   25  Medicaid or otherwise, which the claimant must pay, it is the
   26  intent of the Legislature that the lien interests relating to
   27  the treatment and care of Dontrell Stephens, are hereby waived
   28  and extinguished.
   29         Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
   30  
   31  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   32  And the title is amended as follows:
   33         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   34  and insert:
   35                        A bill to be entitled                      
   36         An act for the relief of Dontrell Stephens through
   37         Evett L. Simmons, as guardian of his property, by the
   38         Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office; providing for an
   39         appropriation to compensate him for personal injuries
   40         and damages sustained as the result of the negligence
   41         of a deputy of the office; providing a limitation on
   42         the payment of compensation, fees, and costs;
   43         providing an effective date.
   44  
   45         WHEREAS, on September 13, 2013, Dontrell Stephens, then age
   46  20, was shot four times by Palm Beach County Deputy Sheriff
   47  Adams Lin during an encounter in West Palm Beach, and
   48         WHEREAS, the last of the bullets fired at Mr. Stephens
   49  entered his back, severing his spinal cord and rendering him
   50  permanently paraplegic, and
   51         WHEREAS, during testimony at trial, Deputy Sheriff Lin
   52  stated that he mistook a cellphone for a handgun, and such
   53  testimony was found to be not credible and was unanimously
   54  rejected by the jury, and
   55         WHEREAS, Mr. Stephens’ testimony, corroborated by video
   56  from Deputy Sheriff Lin’s dashboard camera and physical evidence
   57  at the scene, establishes that the only offense committed by Mr.
   58  Stephens was a noncriminal bicycle infraction, that he was
   59  unarmed, and that he posed no reasonable threat to Deputy
   60  Sheriff Lin, and
   61         WHEREAS, Mr. Stephens currently resides in a homeless
   62  shelter and relies exclusively on public assistance and hospital
   63  emergency room services to meet his extensive health care needs,
   64  and
   65         WHEREAS, Mr. Stephens will require a lifetime of medical,
   66  therapeutic, rehabilitative, and nursing care, and his future
   67  life expectancy exceeds 50 years, and
   68         WHEREAS, following a trial that lasted from January 25,
   69  2016, until February 4, 2016, the jury in the case, brought on
   70  behalf of Mr. Stephens against Ric Bradshaw in his capacity as
   71  Sheriff of Palm Beach County, awarded Mr. Stephens compensatory
   72  damages resulting in the entry of a final judgment in the amount
   73  of $22,431,892.05, plus postjudgment interest and costs, and
   74         WHEREAS, in an opinion rendered on January 10, 2018, with
   75  rehearing en banc denied on September 10, 2018, the United
   76  States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed the
   77  factual findings and the judgment of the trial court in the
   78  case, and
   79         WHEREAS, in the 5 years since being paralyzed, Mr. Stephens
   80  has incurred more than $1.4 million in unpaid expenses for his
   81  care and treatment, and
   82         WHEREAS, in accordance with the statutory limits of
   83  liability set forth in s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, Ric
   84  Bradshaw, in his capacity as Sheriff of Palm Beach County, has
   85  paid $200,000 toward the total amount of this claim, NOW,
   86  THEREFORE,