Florida Senate - 2017                                      SB 54
       
       
        
       By Senator Grimsley
       
       26-00054-17                                             201754__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act for the relief of Marcus Button by the Pasco
    3         County School Board; providing an appropriation to
    4         compensate Marcus Button for injuries sustained as a
    5         result of the negligence of an employee of the Pasco
    6         County School Board; providing an appropriation to
    7         compensate Mark and Robin Button, as parents and
    8         natural guardians of Marcus Button, for injuries and
    9         damages sustained by Marcus Button; providing a
   10         limitation on the payment of fees and costs; providing
   11         an effective date.
   12  
   13         WHEREAS, on the morning of September 22, 2006, Jessica
   14  Juettner picked up 16-year-old Marcus Button at his home in
   15  order to drive him to Wesley Chapel High School, where both were
   16  students, and
   17         WHEREAS, as Jessica drove her Dodge Neon west on State Road
   18  54, Marcus Button realized that he had left his wallet at home,
   19  and Jessica turned the car around and headed back to his home,
   20  and
   21         WHEREAS, as Jessica approached Meadow Pointe Boulevard,
   22  John E. Kinne, who was driving a 35-foot school bus owned by the
   23  Pasco County School Board, pulled out in front of her, and
   24         WHEREAS, Jessica slammed on the brakes, but her car struck
   25  the bus between the wheels and slipped underneath the bus, and
   26         WHEREAS, while Jessica suffered only minor injuries, Marcus
   27  Button, who was riding in the front passenger seat, sustained
   28  facial and skull fractures, brain damage, and vision loss, and
   29         WHEREAS, Mr. Kinne and his backup driver, Linda Bone, were
   30  the only people on the bus and were not seriously injured, and
   31         WHEREAS, Marcus Button was airlifted to St. Joseph’s
   32  Children’s Hospital, where he spent 3 weeks recovering, and then
   33  was transferred to Tampa General Hospital for rehabilitation for
   34  an additional 6 weeks, and
   35         WHEREAS, Marcus Button had to relearn how to walk and
   36  currently cannot walk for any substantial length of time without
   37  pain, lost most of the sight in his right eye, and suffered
   38  facial fractures that left one side of his face higher than the
   39  other, and
   40         WHEREAS, in addition, Marcus Button can no longer smell,
   41  has limited ability to taste, cannot feel textures and, as a
   42  result of the brain damage he sustained in the crash, sees and
   43  hears things that are not there, speaks with a British or a
   44  Southern accent, and is paranoid, and
   45         WHEREAS, Marcus Button returned home in November 2006, but
   46  his mother, Robin Button, testified, “My son who woke up [in the
   47  hospital] was not the same son I gave birth to. He was, but he
   48  wasn’t. It was him, his skin, but it wasn’t him in his skin.
   49  Different kid. The son I knew is gone. He died on that day,” and
   50         WHEREAS, as the operator of a school bus, Mr. Kinne had the
   51  duty to drive the bus in a safe manner and in accordance with
   52  state law but failed to do so, and
   53         WHEREAS, Mr. Kinne was later cited for failing to yield the
   54  right-of-way, and
   55         WHEREAS, in 2007, Marcus Button’s parents, Mark and Robin
   56  Button, sued the Pasco County School Board for negligence, and,
   57  during the subsequent trial, a pediatric rehabilitation doctor
   58  and a neuropsychologist testified that Marcus will require 24
   59  hour care, counseling, interventions, medical care, and
   60  pharmaceuticals for the remainder of his life to cope with his
   61  physical symptoms and control his psychotic and delusional
   62  behavior; that he continues to suffer from memory loss; and that
   63  he has trouble sleeping and struggles to concentrate and stay on
   64  task, and
   65         WHEREAS, an economist who testified at trial estimated that
   66  Marcus Button’s future care will cost between $6 million and $10
   67  million and that his inability to work will result in the loss
   68  of between $365,000 and $570,000 in wages over his lifetime, and
   69         WHEREAS, a jury of five men and one woman apportioned
   70  responsibility for the crash as follows: the Pasco County School
   71  Board, 65 percent; Jessica 20 percent; Marcus Button, 10
   72  percent, and
   73         WHEREAS, the trial court ordered the Pasco County School
   74  Board to pay final judgments of $1,380,967.39 and $289,396.85 to
   75  Marcus Button and his parents, respectively, and
   76         WHEREAS, the Pasco County School Board has paid $163,000 of
   77  the statutory limit of $200,000 pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida
   78  Statutes, applicable at the time the claim arose, to Marcus
   79  Button and Mark and Robin Button, as parents and natural
   80  guardians of Marcus Button, as compensation for the injuries and
   81  damages that were incurred as a result of the accident that
   82  occurred on September 22, 2006, and
   83         WHEREAS, the pro rata share of the statutory limit pursuant
   84  to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, paid to Marcus Button is
   85  $134,752.10, but the balance of $1,246,215.29 remains unpaid,
   86  and
   87         WHEREAS, the pro rata share of the statutory limit pursuant
   88  to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, paid to Mark and Robin Button is
   89  $28,247.90, but the balance of $261,148.95 remains unpaid, NOW,
   90  THEREFORE,
   91  
   92  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   93  
   94         Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are
   95  found and declared to be true.
   96         Section 2. The Pasco County School Board is authorized and
   97  directed to appropriate from funds of the school board not
   98  otherwise encumbered and to draw a warrant, payable to Marcus
   99  Button, in the amount of $1,246,215.29, to compensate him for
  100  injuries and damages sustained due to the negligence of an
  101  employee of the school board.
  102         Section 3. The Pasco County School Board is authorized and
  103  directed to appropriate from funds of the school board not
  104  otherwise encumbered and to draw a warrant, payable to Mark and
  105  Robin Button, as parents and natural guardians of Marcus Button,
  106  in the amount of $261,148.95, to compensate them for injuries
  107  and damages sustained by Marcus Button as a result of the
  108  accident that occurred on September 22, 2006 due to the
  109  negligence of an employee of the Pasco County School Board.
  110         Section 4. The amount paid by the Pasco County School Board
  111  pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amounts awarded
  112  under this act are intended to provide the sole compensation for
  113  all present and future claims arising out of the factual
  114  situation described in this act which resulted in injuries
  115  sustained by Marcus Button. The total amount paid for attorney
  116  fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other similar expenses relating
  117  to this claim may not exceed 25 percent of the total amounts
  118  awarded under this act.
  119         Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.