Amendment
Bill No. 1964

Amendment No. 711947

CHAMBER ACTION
Senate		House
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1	Representative(s) Pickens, Ausley, and Richardson offered the
2	following:
3
4	Amendment (with title amendment)
5	On page 8, between lines 17 and 18,
6
7	insert:
8
9	Section 6.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
10	are found and declared to be true.
11	Section 7.  The City of Tallahassee is authorized and
12	directed to appropriate from funds of the city not otherwise
13	appropriated and to draw a warrant in the sum of $775,000
14	payable to Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen as compensation
15	for injuries and damages sustained due to the negligence of an
16	employee of the city.
17
18
19	================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T =================
20	On page 1, line 26, through page 2, line 12,
21
22	remove:  all of said lines
23
24	and insert:
25
26	providing rulemaking authority; providing for the relief
27	of Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen by the City of
28	Tallahassee; providing for an appropriation to compensate
29	Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen for injuries and
30	damages sustained as a result of an accident involving
31	Sheryl D. Allen and an employee of the City of
32	Tallahassee; providing an effective date.
33
34	WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that wrongfully incarcerated
35	persons have been deprived of their liberty, and
36	WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that innocent persons who
37	have been wrongfully incarcerated should have the opportunity to
38	lead normal lives, and
39	WHEREAS, wrongfully incarcerated persons or their families
40	may have expended large sums of money and encumbered real
41	property to defend against wrongful incarceration, and
42	WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that the incarceration of an
43	innocent person is a taking of a person's liberty for which
44	compensation is due, and
45	WHEREAS, the Legislature has a responsibility to manage
46	state resources for the benefit of all residents of the state,
47	and
48	WHEREAS, on December 8, 2001, Sheryl D. Allen was in
49	Tallahassee chaperoning her daughter's Keystone Heights High
50	School Band as they participated in the city's 2001 Winter
51	Festival parade, and
52	WHEREAS, Sheryl D. Allen was hit by a large trailer/float
53	owned by the City of Tallahassee and driven by a City of
54	Tallahassee employee when the trailer swung wide, leaving the
55	parade disembarkment area, and
56	WHEREAS, the contact with the trailer knocked Sheryl D.
57	Allen to the ground, resulting in a skull fracture and
58	significant closed-head injury, and
59	WHEREAS, the accident of December 8, 2001, formed the basis
60	of a negligence action filed against the City of Tallahassee in
61	2002, and
62	WHEREAS, the city, after extensive discovery during the
63	litigation, admitted liability, and
64	WHEREAS, on April 7, 2004, the City of Tallahassee and
65	Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen, husband of Sheryl D. Allen,
66	mediated the case prior to trial and reached an agreement
67	whereby the city agreed to pay Sheryl D. Allen and George F.
68	Allen $200,000, pursuant to the limits of liability set forth in
69	s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and to support the passage of a
70	claims bill in the Legislature for an additional payment of
71	$775,000, and
72	WHEREAS, the Tallahassee City Commission and the Circuit
73	Court in and for the Second Judicial Circuit approved the
74	settlement agreement reached at mediation, and the city has paid
75	$200,000 to Sheryl D. Allen, George F. Allen, and their
76	attorneys, and
77	WHEREAS, the City of Tallahassee has agreed to support the
78	filing and passage of this bill and has agreed that, if this act
79	becomes law, the City of Tallahassee, within 30 days after the
80	effective date of this act, will pay an additional $775,000 to
81	Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen, NOW, THEREFORE,

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