Senate Bill 0024

    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                        SB 24

    By Senator Campbell





    30-38A-99

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the City of Delray Beach;

  3         providing for the relief of the estate of

  4         Charlie Brown, Jr., for damages sustained as a

  5         result of the city's negligence in misplacing

  6         evidence relating to an accident that

  7         critically injured him; providing an effective

  8         date.

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10         WHEREAS, on November 25, 1987, Charlie Brown, Jr., who

11  was then 35 years of age, was struck from behind on his

12  bicycle by an automobile on Lake Ida Road in the City of

13  Delray Beach, and

14         WHEREAS, as a result of this accident, Mr. Brown was

15  critically injured and brain-damaged, and he remained

16  institutionalized until his death on May 4, 1997, and

17         WHEREAS, due to the loss, misplacement, or accidental

18  discarding of evidence by the city police, the state attorney

19  had to drop the criminal charges that had been brought against

20  the alleged hit-and-run violator who struck Mr. Brown, and

21         WHEREAS, Mr. Brown's attorneys then filed suit against

22  the city, alleging that the city had negligently failed to

23  preserve and safeguard the physical evidence pertaining to the

24  incident, and

25         WHEREAS, the lower court granted the city's motion for

26  summary judgment, but that verdict was subsequently reversed

27  in Brown v. City of Delray Beach, 652 So.2d 1150 (Fla. 4th DCA

28  1995), and

29         WHEREAS, pursuant to the subsequent jury verdict of

30  August 19, 1996, final judgment in that action was entered

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






    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                        SB 24
    30-38A-99




  1  against the city in the amount of $300,000 plus interest and

  2  attorneys' fees and costs, and

  3         WHEREAS, the city has paid $100,000, the statutory

  4  limit, in partial satisfaction of this judgment, and

  5         WHEREAS, the parties have agreed to settle the

  6  controversy for the amount of $80,000, to be paid to the

  7  Estate of Charlie Brown, Jr., and used for the benefit of Mr.

  8  Brown's minor child, Nicola Brown, NOW, THEREFORE,

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

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

13  act are found and declared to be true.

14         Section 2.  The City of Delray Beach is authorized and

15  directed to compensate the Estate of Charlie Brown, Jr., in

16  the amount of $80,000 for injuries and damages sustained, out

17  of funds of the city not otherwise appropriated.

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

19  law.

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