House Bill hb0063e1

                                            HB 63, First Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to Orange County; providing for

  3         the relief of Maria Garcia, as legal guardian

  4         of Delfina Benjumea; providing for an

  5         appropriation to compensate her for injuries

  6         and damages sustained by Delfina Benjumea as a

  7         result of the negligence of the Orange County

  8         Sheriff's Office; providing legislative intent

  9         with respect to expenditures; providing an

10         effective date.

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12         WHEREAS, on July 11, 1996, Delfina Benjumea, the

13  82-year-old mother of Maria Garcia, had come to the Orlando

14  area from Colombia to visit her family, and

15         WHEREAS, while in Orlando, Delfina Benjumea

16  participated in a senior-citizen program run by the City of

17  Orlando, and

18         WHEREAS, on July 11, 1996, a fellow participant in the

19  program gave Delfina Benjumea a ride from the center at which

20  the senior-citizen program was conducted and mistakenly left

21  her at an apartment complex other than the one in which her

22  daughter resided, and

23         WHEREAS, in an effort to walk to her daughter's home,

24  Delfina Benjumea became lost, and an Orange County sheriff's

25  deputy undertook to drive her to adult protective services,

26  and

27         WHEREAS, on the way to their destination, the deputy

28  rear-ended an automobile at such a speed as to cause airbags

29  in the sheriff's vehicle to deploy, and

30         WHEREAS, after the accident, Delfina Benjumea was

31  evaluated at a hospital for complaints of neck and back pain


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                                            HB 63, First Engrossed



  1  and released, but, during the next several weeks, she

  2  experienced increased headaches, dizziness, and confusion, and

  3         WHEREAS, on August 3, 1996, Maria Garcia found her

  4  mother lying in the grass in front of her apartment complex,

  5  and Delfina Benjumea was taken to Florida Hospital South,

  6  where a CT Scan of the brain revealed very large bilateral

  7  subacute subdural hematomas, and

  8         WHEREAS, surgical procedures were performed to open the

  9  skull and relieve the hematomas, and

10         WHEREAS, Delfina Benjumea was released from the

11  hospital 3 days later but returned there in September 1996,

12  because of coagulation and clotting, and

13         WHEREAS, at a trial based on allegations that the

14  aforementioned accident had caused brain injury, a neurologist

15  testified that Delfina Benjumea had suffered a traumatic brain

16  injury with residual cognitive and behavioral impairment and

17  further concluded that Delfina Benjumea is totally

18  incapacitated and is in need of constant supervision, and

19         WHEREAS, a three-person medical panel, in connection

20  with Delfina Benjumea's guardianship proceeding in 1997,

21  issued findings consistent with the doctor's opinion, and

22         WHEREAS, at trial, a jury determined that the sheriff

23  was 100 percent at fault in the accident, and the jury awarded

24  Delfina Benjumea damages totalling $384,433, including $87,745

25  for past medical expenses, $172,000 for future medical

26  expenses, and $124,688 for past and future pain and suffering,

27  and

28         WHEREAS, plaintiff agreed to a remittitur post-trial,

29  and a final judgment in the amount of $362,954, including

30  taxable costs, was entered in October, 1998, and

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                                            HB 63, First Engrossed



  1         WHEREAS, the sheriff has tendered $100,000 in

  2  accordance with the limits on waiver of sovereign immunity

  3  which are set forth in section 768.28, Florida Statutes, NOW,

  4  THEREFORE,

  5

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

  7

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

  9  act are found and declared to be true.

10         Section 2.  The Orange County Sheriff's Office is

11  authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the

12  sheriff's office not otherwise appropriated and to draw a

13  warrant in the sum of $152,500, which amount includes

14  statutory attorney's fees and costs, payable to Maria Garcia,

15  as legal guardian of Delfina Benjumea, to be placed in the

16  guardianship account of Delfina Benjumea to compensate Delfina

17  Benjumea for injuries and damages sustained as a result of the

18  negligence of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. It is the

19  intent of the Legislature that no funds appropriated by this

20  act be spent, incurred, or obligated under the guardianship

21  account for any extraordinary expenditures without prior order

22  of the circuit court.

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

24  law.

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