House Bill hb0451

    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 451

        By Representative Ritter






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to Orange County; providing for

  3         the relief of Maria Garcia, as legal guardian

  4         of Delfina Benjumea; providing for an

  5         appropriation to compensate her for injuries

  6         and damages sustained by Delfina Benjumea as a

  7         result of the negligence of the Orange County

  8         Sheriff's Office; providing for a reversionary

  9         interest to the Orange County Sheriff's Office;

10         providing legislative intent with respect to

11         expenditures; providing an effective date.

12

13         WHEREAS, on July 11, 1996, Delfina Benjumea, the

14  82-year-old mother of Maria Garcia, had come to the Orlando

15  area from Colombia to visit her family, and

16         WHEREAS, while in Orlando, Delfina Benjumea

17  participated in a senior-citizen program run by the City of

18  Orlando, and

19         WHEREAS, on July 11, 1996, a fellow participant in the

20  program gave Delfina Benjumea a ride from the center at which

21  the senior-citizen program was conducted and mistakenly left

22  her at an apartment complex other than the one in which her

23  daughter resided, and

24         WHEREAS, in an effort to walk to her daughter's home,

25  Delfina Benjumea became lost, and an Orange County sheriff's

26  deputy undertook to drive her to adult protective services,

27  and

28         WHEREAS, on the way to their destination, the deputy

29  rear-ended an automobile at such a speed as to cause airbags

30  in the sheriff's vehicle to deploy, and

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 451

    585-128-01






  1         WHEREAS, after the accident, Delfina Benjumea was

  2  evaluated at a hospital for complaints of neck and back pain

  3  and released, but, during the next several weeks, she

  4  experienced increased headaches, dizziness, and confusion, and

  5         WHEREAS, on August 3, 1996, Maria Garcia found her

  6  mother lying in the grass in front of her apartment complex,

  7  and Delfina Benjumea was taken to Florida Hospital South,

  8  where a CT Scan of the brain revealed very large bilateral

  9  subacute subdural hematomas, and

10         WHEREAS, surgical procedures were performed to open the

11  skull and relieve the hematomas, and

12         WHEREAS, Delfina Benjumea was released from the

13  hospital 3 days later but returned there in September 1996,

14  because of coagulation and clotting, and

15         WHEREAS, at a trial based on allegations that the

16  aforementioned accident had caused brain injury, a neurologist

17  testified that Delfina Benjumea had suffered a traumatic brain

18  injury with residual cognitive and behavioral impairment and

19  further concluded that Delfina Benjumea is totally

20  incapacitated and is in need of constant supervision, and

21         WHEREAS, a three-person medical panel, in connection

22  with Delfina Benjumea's guardianship proceeding in 1997,

23  issued findings consistent with the doctor's opinion, and

24         WHEREAS, at trial, a jury determined that the sheriff

25  was 100 percent at fault in the accident, and the jury awarded

26  Delfina Benjumea damages totalling $384,433, including $87,745

27  for past medical expenses, $172,000 for future medical

28  expenses, and $124,688 for past and future pain and suffering,

29  and

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 451

    585-128-01






  1         WHEREAS, plaintiff agreed to a remittitur post-trial,

  2  and a final judgment in the amount of $362,954, including

  3  taxable costs, was entered in October, 1998, and

  4         WHEREAS, the sheriff has tendered $100,000 in

  5  accordance with the limits on waiver of sovereign immunity

  6  which are set forth in section 768.28, Florida Statutes, NOW,

  7  THEREFORE,

  8

  9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

10

11         Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this

12  act are found and declared to be true.

13         Section 2.  The Orange County Sheriff's Office is

14  authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the

15  sheriff's office not otherwise appropriated and to draw a

16  warrant in the sum of $262,954, payable to Maria Garcia, as

17  legal guardian of Delfina Benjumea, to be placed in the

18  guardianship account of Delfina Benjumea to compensate Delfina

19  Benjumea for injuries and damages sustained as a result of the

20  negligence of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Upon the

21  death of Delfina Benjumea, any balance of this appropriation

22  remaining in the guardianship account shall revert to the

23  Orange County Sheriff's Office. It is the intent of the

24  Legislature that no funds appropriated by this act be spent,

25  incurred, or obligated under the guardianship account for any

26  extraordinary expenditures without prior order of the circuit

27  court.

28         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

29  law.

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