Senate Bill sb0042c1

    Florida Senate - 2002                             CS for SB 42

    By the Committee on Finance and Taxation; and Senator Dyer





    314-1815-02

  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, for injuries and damages

  5         sustained by Ms. Benjumea as a result of the

  6         negligence of the Orange County Sheriff's

  7         Office; providing legislative intent with

  8         respect to expenditures; providing an effective

  9         date.

10

11         WHEREAS, on July 11, 1996, Delfina Benjumea, an

12  82-year-old woman, had come to the Orlando area from Colombia

13  to visit her family, and

14         WHEREAS, while in Orlando, Ms. Benjumea participated in

15  a senior-citizen program run by the City of Orlando, and

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

17  program gave Ms. Benjumea a ride from the center and

18  mistakenly left her at an apartment complex other than the one

19  in which her daughter resided, and

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

21  Ms. Benjumea became lost, and a sheriff's deputy undertook to

22  drive her to adult protective services, and

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

24  rear-ended a 1992 Lexus automobile at such a speed as to cause

25  airbags in the sheriff's vehicle to deploy, and

26         WHEREAS, after the accident, Ms. Benjumea was evaluated

27  at a hospital for complaints of neck and back pain and

28  released, but, during the next several weeks, she experienced

29  increased headaches, dizziness, and confusion, and

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

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

                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2002                             CS for SB 42
    314-1815-02




  1  and Ms. Benjumea was taken to Florida Hospital South, where a

  2  CT Scan of the brain revealed very large bilateral subacute

  3  subdural hematomas, and

  4         WHEREAS, surgical procedures were performed to open the

  5  skull and relieve the hematomas, and

  6         WHEREAS, Ms. Benjumea was released from the hospital 3

  7  days later but returned there in September 1996, because of

  8  coagulation and clotting, and

  9         WHEREAS, at a trial based on allegations that the

10  aforementioned accident had caused brain injury, a neurologist

11  testified that Ms. Benjumea had suffered a traumatic brain

12  injury with residual cognitive and behavioral impairment and

13  further concluded that Ms. Benjumea is totally incapacitated

14  and is in need of constant supervision, and

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

16  with Ms. Benjumea's guardianship proceeding in 1997, issued

17  findings consistent with the doctor's opinion, and

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

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

20  Ms. Benjumea damages totalling $384,433, including $87,745 for

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

22  and $124,688 for past and future pain and suffering, and

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

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

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

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

27  accordance with the limits on waiver of sovereign immunity

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

29  THEREFORE,

30

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

                                  2

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2002                             CS for SB 42
    314-1815-02




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

  2  act are found and declared to be true.

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

  4  authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the

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

  6  warrant in the sum of $152,500, which amount includes

  7  statutory attorney's fees and costs, payable to Maria Garcia

  8  as legal guardian of Delfina Benjumea, to be placed in the

  9  guardianship account of Delfina Benjumea to compensate Delfina

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

11  negligence of an employee of the Orange County Sheriff's

12  Office. It is the intent of the Legislature that no funds

13  appropriated by this act be spent, incurred, or obligated

14  under the guardianship account for any extraordinary

15  expenditures without prior order of the circuit court.

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

17  law.

18

19          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
20                              SB 42

21

22  The Committee Substitute conforms the bill to the terms of a
    settlement reached between the parties to the suit on January
23  23, 2002. The amount of the settlement is reduced to $152,500
    and there is no reversion of funds to the Sheriff's Office on
24  the death of the Ms. Benjumea.

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

                                  3

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.