Florida Senate - 2012 (NP) SB 18
By Senator Ring
32-00155-12 201218__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act for the relief of L.T., a minor; providing an
3 appropriation to compensate L.T., a minor, by and
4 through Vicki McSwain, the Permanent Custodian for
5 L.T., for injuries and damages sustained as a result
6 of the negligence of employees of the Department of
7 Children and Family Services; providing a limitation
8 of the payment of fees and costs; providing an
9 effective date.
10
11 WHEREAS, on August 15, 1995, the Department of Children and
12 Family Services (DCF) removed 14-month-old L.T. and her infant
13 brother from their mother’s custody because they were not
14 receiving adequate care, and
15 WHEREAS, Judy Mandrell, a protective supervision counselor
16 for DCF, was assigned to find a foster home for the children.
17 Ms. Mandrell conducted a home study of the children’s great aunt
18 and uncle, Vicki and Eddie Thomas. Ms. Mandrell recommended
19 temporarily placing the children in the Thomases’ custody. Ms.
20 Mandrell’s immediate supervisor, Lillie S. Pease, approved the
21 recommendation, and
22 WHEREAS, a background check was conducted shortly after the
23 children were placed in the Thomases’ home. It indicated that
24 many years earlier Mr. Thomas had been convicted of a
25 misdemeanor and possession of narcotics equipment and that Ms.
26 Thomas had been charged with, but apparently not convicted of,
27 larceny. The background check did not reveal any prior history
28 of violence, sex offenses, or child abuse, and
29 WHEREAS, Ms. Mandrell and Ms. Pease ultimately concluded
30 that the Thomases were capable of providing the children a safe
31 and loving home and approved the placement. Ms. Mandrell
32 continued to make monthly home visits to assess the living
33 arrangements and the children’s welfare, and
34 WHEREAS, on August 21, 1996, Mr. Thomas was charged with a
35 lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 16. The
36 alleged victim was the 13-year-old daughter of a woman Mr.
37 Thomas was seeing despite being married to Ms. Thomas. The state
38 later amended the charge to add a count for sexual battery on a
39 child by a familial or custodial authority, and
40 WHEREAS, while the charges were pending, the Florida trial
41 court ordered Mr. Thomas to not have any contact with the victim
42 or her family, to vacate the home where Mr. Thomas had lived
43 with Ms. Thomas, L.T., and her brother, and to not have any
44 contact with any children. Mr. Thomas moved into his mother’s
45 garage just down the street from the home where Ms. Thomas lived
46 with L.T. and her brother, and
47 WHEREAS, DCF became aware of the charges against Mr. Thomas
48 and of the court’s no-contact order when L.T.’s biological
49 mother advised Ms. Mandrell of the charges and asked that L.T.
50 be removed from the home of Ms. Thomas. Ms. Mandrell spoke with
51 Ms. Thomas about the allegations and visited Mr. Thomas’s
52 mother’s home to confirm that Mr. Thomas was living there. Ms.
53 Mandrell continued to report that L.T. and her brother were
54 thriving and that Ms. Thomas was providing good care. On several
55 occasions, Ms. Mandrell reminded Mr. Thomas that he must not
56 have contact with the children, and
57 WHEREAS, on January 31, 1997, Mr. Thomas went to trial for
58 the charges against him, and the jury acquitted him of sexual
59 battery but was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of
60 committing a lewd and lascivious act. On March 25, 1997, a
61 retrial of the charge of committing a lewd and lascivious act
62 again produced a hung jury. On April 9, 1997, Mr. Thomas pled no
63 contest to that charge and was sentenced to 5 years’ probation.
64 As part of the sentence, Mr. Thomas was ordered to not have any
65 contact with the victim and her family and was required to
66 attend sex offender classes, and
67 WHEREAS, the same judge who presided over both trials of
68 Mr. Thomas also presided over the dependency case involving L.T.
69 and her brother. On May 9, 1997, 1 month after Mr. Thomas
70 entered his plea and was sentenced to probation, the judge
71 entered an order allowing Mr. Thomas to return to the home of
72 Ms. Thomas and the children. The judge authorized Mr. Thomas to
73 have unsupervised contact with the children, and
74 WHEREAS, Ms. Mandrell continued to make monthly home
75 visits. She noted that the case against Mr. Thomas involving
76 commission of a lewd and lascivious act barred the Thomases from
77 adopting, but she recommended the continuation of the foster
78 care arrangement. Each month, Ms. Mandrell’s report indicated
79 that there was little or no risk of abuse to the children, and
80 WHEREAS, on March 3, 2000, the same judge, acting in the
81 dependency case, approved the children’s long-term placement
82 with the Thomases, removing them from protective services, and
83 WHEREAS, 3 years later, on March 24, 2003, an anonymous
84 caller to DCF alleged that L.T. was being abused by Mr. Thomas
85 and that both Mr. and Ms. Thomas were using drugs in the
86 children’s presence. The anonymous caller incorrectly asserted
87 that Mr. Thomas was “a proven sex offender and is not supposed
88 to be around children.” Jennifer Johnson, a child protective
89 investigator for DCF, was assigned to investigate the
90 allegations. Gayla Spivey, Ms. Johnson’s supervisor, oversaw the
91 investigation, and
92 WHEREAS, on March 25, 2003, the day after the anonymous
93 report was received, Ms. Johnson interviewed L.T., her brother,
94 and Ms. Thomas. Both children denied the abuse allegations and
95 said that they were happy in the Thomases’ home. The children
96 said they understood the difference between good and bad touches
97 and had never been touched in a manner that made them
98 uncomfortable, and
99 WHEREAS, Ms. Johnson ran additional background checks on
100 the Thomases and required that they submit to drug tests. The
101 background checks revealed nothing new, and the drug tests came
102 back negative. Ms. Johnson prepared a report concluding that
103 L.T. and her brother were not being abused and were not at risk
104 of abuse. Ms. Johnson concluded that the case should be closed,
105 and her supervisor, Ms. Spivey, approved the report and the
106 closing of the case, and
107 WHEREAS, on February 24, 2005, L.T. ran away from the
108 Thomases’ home and was found by law enforcement officers. She
109 said she ran away because she had been sexually abused by Mr.
110 Thomas and physically abused by Ms. Thomas. L.T. told the
111 officers that Mr. Thomas sexually abused her from October 2004
112 to late December 2004. DCF immediately removed L.T. and her
113 brother from the Thomases’ home, and
114 WHEREAS, L.T. brought a lawsuit in the United States
115 District Court for the Northern District of Florida alleging
116 that Ms. Mandrell, Ms. Pease, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Spivey were
117 deliberately indifferent to the risk that Mr. Thomas would
118 sexually abuse her, thus violating her right to substantive due
119 process under the Fourteenth Amendment, and
120 WHEREAS, Ms. Mandrell, Ms. Pease, Ms. Johnson, and Ms.
121 Spivey filed a motion for summary judgment, and the trial court
122 granted it. All federal law claims against Judy Mandrell, Lillie
123 S. Pease, Jennifer Johnson, and Gayla Spivey were dismissed with
124 prejudice, and all state law claims were dismissed without
125 prejudice, and
126 WHEREAS, on June 21, 2010, the parties agreed to a mediated
127 settlement under which L.T. shall receive $1 million, of which
128 $200,000 shall be submitted by check to the trust account of
129 Haas, Lewis, Difiore, & Amos, P.A., and the balance of $800,000
130 shall be submitted through a claim bill that DCF agrees to
131 support, NOW, THEREFORE,
132
133 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
134
135 Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are
136 found and declared to be true.
137 Section 2. There is appropriated from the General Revenue
138 Fund to the Department of Children and Family Services the sum
139 of $1 million for the relief of L.T., by and through Vicki
140 McSwain, Permanent Custodian for L.T., for injuries and damages
141 sustained. After payment of attorney’s fees and costs, lobbying
142 fees, other similar expenses relating to this claim, outstanding
143 medical liens, and other immediate needs, the remaining funds
144 shall be placed into a special needs trust created for the
145 exclusive use and benefit of L.T.
146 Section 3. The Chief Financial Officer is directed to draw
147 a warrant in the sum of $1 million, payable to L.T., by and
148 through Vicki McSwain, Permanent Custodian for L.T., upon funds
149 in the State Treasury to the credit of the Department of
150 Children and Family Services, and the Chief Financial Officer is
151 directed to pay the same out of such funds in the State Treasury
152 not otherwise appropriated.
153 Section 4. Any amount awarded pursuant to the waiver of
154 sovereign immunity under s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the
155 amount awarded under this act are intended to provide the sole
156 compensation for all present and future claims arising out of
157 the factual situation described in the preamble to this act
158 which resulted in the injury to L.T. The total amount paid for
159 attorney’s fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other similar
160 expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25 percent of the
161 total amount awarded under this act.
162 Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.