Florida Senate - 2017                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 30
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì115586GÎ115586                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/07/2017           .                                
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       The Committee on Judiciary (Simmons) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 61 - 69
    4  and insert:
    5  warrant in the sum of $1,895,000, payable to Erin Joynt as
    6  compensation for injuries and damages sustained.
    7         Section 3. The amount paid by Volusia County pursuant to s.
    8  768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amount awarded under this act
    9  are intended to provide the sole compensation for all present
   10  and future claims arising out of the factual situation described
   11  in this act which resulted in injuries and damages to Erin
   12  Joynt. The total amount paid for attorney fees relating to this
   13  claim may not
   14  
   15  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   16  And the title is amended as follows:
   17         Delete lines 9 - 52
   18  and insert:
   19         attorney fees; providing an effective date.
   20  
   21         WHEREAS, on July 31, 2011, Erin Joynt, her husband, and two
   22  children were vacationing beachgoers on Daytona Beach as they
   23  journeyed from their native Wichita, Kansas, to their planned
   24  destination of Walt Disney World, and
   25         WHEREAS, at the same time, in the regular course of his
   26  employment duties, Thomas Moderie, an employee of the Volusia
   27  County Beach Patrol, was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck owned
   28  by the county along the beach, and
   29         WHEREAS, Mr. Moderie negligently operated the truck,
   30  running over Mrs. Joynt while she was sunbathing on the beach,
   31  and
   32         WHEREAS, as a result of the impact with the truck, Mrs.
   33  Joynt sustained severe injuries, including, but not limited to,
   34  multiple cranial and facial fractures, rib fractures, permanent
   35  facial injuries, and chronic back pain, and
   36         WHEREAS, Mrs. Joynt continues to suffer as a result of the
   37  impact and is unable to blink her right eye without the
   38  assistance of a gold weight sewn into her eyelid and has a
   39  perforated eardrum and additional hearing loss, permanent facial
   40  paralysis, speech and neurological deficits, and chronic pain,
   41  and
   42         WHEREAS, after a 4-day trial in June 2014, at which Volusia
   43  County acknowledged the negligence of Mr. Moderie, a jury found
   44  the county liable for Mrs. Joynt’s injuries and awarded her
   45  compensatory damages in the amount of $2.6 million, and
   46         WHEREAS, on January 12, 2016, following resolution of an
   47  appeal initiated by the county, a final judgment in the amount
   48  of $2 million was entered against Volusia County by the trial
   49  court, and
   50         WHEREAS, Volusia County is insured for Mrs. Joynt’s claim
   51  for damages through an excess liability insurance policy
   52  underwritten by Star Insurance Company, and
   53         WHEREAS, Volusia County has already paid $85,000 of the
   54  judgment to Mrs. Joynt pursuant to the statutory limits of
   55  liability set forth in s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, which were
   56  in effect at the time that Mrs. Joynt’s claim arose, NOW,
   57  THEREFORE,