HB 0671 2004
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the South Florida Water Management
3	District; providing for the relief of Brian Daiagi;
4	authorizing and directing the South Florida Water
5	Management District to compensate Mr. Daiagi for personal
6	injuries that he suffered due to the negligence of the
7	South Florida Water Management District; providing an
8	effective date.
9
10	WHEREAS, on the morning of August 10, 1992, Brian Daiagi, a
11	20-year-old single resident of Broward County, was traveling on
12	a dirt bike westbound on the shoulder of Griffin Road with
13	Richard Truntz, an off-duty police officer with the Hollywood
14	Police Department, who was also on a dirt bike, and
15	WHEREAS, across the shoulder of the road, hidden in tall
16	grass and unbeknownst to both riders, was a drainage culvert
17	that ran perpendicular to and across the shoulder of the road on
18	which they were traveling, and
19	WHEREAS, this drainage culvert that was placed on land
20	owned by the South Florida Water Management District had been
21	there for many years and, at one point, Bell South was to have
22	erected a security fence around the drainage culvert, having
23	obtained permission to lay telephone cables on the road
24	shoulder, but Bell South ultimately failed to erect the security
25	fence, and
26	WHEREAS, despite having notice that the security fence had
27	not been erected, the South Florida Water Management District
28	did not act to protect or warn of the hidden drainage culvert,
29	and
30	WHEREAS, on August 10, 1992, at approximately 3:00 p.m.,
31	when the two riders were returning to Brian Daiagi's home,
32	Richard Truntz was unable to get his dirt bike out of first gear
33	and could ride only very slowly and suggested that Mr. Daiagi
34	ride ahead and meet him later at Mr. Daiagi's house, and
35	WHEREAS, while wearing a helmet and full protective gear
36	and traveling at approximately 25 m.p.h., Brian Daiagi drove his
37	dirt bike into the hidden drainage culvert, and
38	WHEREAS, Mr. Daiagi had never ridden his dirt bike in the
39	area where the accident occurred and had moved to this western
40	area of Broward County approximately 3 weeks prior to the
41	accident, and
42	WHEREAS, the drainage culvert cannot be seen with the naked
43	eye and was completely obscured by long grass along the road,
44	and
45	WHEREAS, the South Florida Water Management District is
46	responsible for cutting the grass in this area, and
47	WHEREAS, testimony at the trial of the case indicated that
48	the grass was at least "knee high" and obscured the culvert from
49	ordinary view, and Richard Truntz testified that he would have
50	also driven into the culvert except for the fact that he was
51	traveling in first gear and was able to stop 2 feet short of the
52	culvert by braking hard, and
53	WHEREAS, the South Florida Water Management District
54	acknowledged during the trial that it had knowledge that
55	"passers-by" used the road shoulder and took the position that
56	Brian Daiagi was "an invitee" on the premises, and
57	WHEREAS, Brian Daiagi sustained a crush fracture to his
58	spine, was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the
59	incident, and, according to Dr. Barth Green who treated Mr.
60	Daiagi for his injuries, will always be confined to a wheelchair
61	within a reasonable degree of medical probability, and
62	WHEREAS, Mr. Daiagi's specific injuries include a T10-T11
63	fracture with complete paraplegia below the navel; comminuted
64	fracture of the vertebrae at T11; multiple fractures of the
65	spine at L1, L2, L3, and L4; posttraumatic stress disorder;
66	depression; pain secondary to the spinal cord injury; bowel
67	dysfunction; nonfunctioning bladder that requires 24-hour
68	catheterization; and complete sexual impotence, and
69	WHEREAS, there was no testimony that Brian Daiagi was
70	speeding at the time of the accident, and the South Florida
71	Water Management District claimed that Mr. Daiagi was not
72	looking where he was going, and
73	WHEREAS, the trial court allowed the jury to visit the
74	scene of the accident, and the jury agreed by their verdict that
75	the drainage culvert was completely obscured and could not be
76	seen, and, at the time the jury visited the site, the grass was
77	above knee level, and
78	WHEREAS, an engineer and accident reconstructionist who was
79	called by Mr. Daiagi as an expert witness testified that Mr.
80	Daiagi's speed, based upon where he was found on the other side
81	of the culvert, was approximately 25.6 m.p.h., requiring 90 feet
82	in which to stop, at which distance Mr. Daiagi could not have
83	seen the culvert, and
84	WHEREAS, at the time of the accident, Mr. Daiagi was
85	working in a jewelry store and is now 32 years of age and lives
86	in western Broward County, and
87	WHEREAS, a verdict was rendered in the case on September
88	29, 2000, finding that the South Florida Water Management
89	District was 80-percent negligent in causing the injuries
90	sustained by Brian Daiagi and awarding damages totaling
91	$4,344,000, which took into account a finding of 20-percent
92	comparative negligence by Mr. Daiagi, and
93	WHEREAS, the verdict was later reduced by the trial court
94	due to collateral source payments pursuant to health insurance,
95	resulting in an amended final judgment entered by the trial
96	court on May 10, 2001, in the amount of $4,008,616.63, and
97	WHEREAS, the South Florida Water Management District
98	appealed the verdict to the Fourth District Court of Appeals,
99	and the verdict was upheld in a unanimous opinion by the
100	appellate court on July 17, 2002, Case Number 4D01-1918, NOW,
101	THEREFORE,
102
103	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
104
105	Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act
106	are found and declared to be true.
107	Section 2. The South Florida Water Management District is
108	authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the
109	district not otherwise appropriated and to draw a warrant in the
110	amount of $4,008,616.63 payable to Brian Daiagi to compensate
111	him for personal injuries and damages suffered as a result of
112	the negligence of the South Florida Water Management District.
113	Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.