Senate Bill sb0034

    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 34

    By Senator Margolis





    35-102-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the City of Miami Beach;

  3         providing for the relief of Claude Tunc and

  4         Martine Tunc, individually and as co-personal

  5         representatives of the estate of Stephanie

  6         Tunc, deceased, and Sandrine Tunc, for the

  7         death of Stephanie Tunc and injuries and

  8         damages sustained by Sandrine Tunc due to the

  9         negligence of the City of Miami Beach;

10         providing for an appropriation; providing for

11         the use of such funds; providing for attorney's

12         fees and costs; providing an effective date.

13  

14         WHEREAS, on February 22, 2003, 27-year-old Sandrine

15  Tunc, along with her 26-year-old sister, Stephanie Tunc, were

16  sunbathing on the soft sand of Miami Beach on a sunny

17  afternoon, and

18         WHEREAS, Officer George Varon, a police officer

19  employed by the City of Miami Beach Police Department, while

20  in the course and scope of his duties as a City of Miami Beach

21  police officer, drove a Miami Beach police vehicle on the soft

22  sand of Miami Beach and negligently drove through an area of

23  sunbathers near a lifeguard station, and in fact did drive

24  over Stephanie and Sandrine Tunc with his police vehicle,

25  proximately causing the death of Stephanie Tunc and serious

26  permanent injuries to Sandrine Tunc, and

27         WHEREAS, Stephanie Tunc was crushed to death by the

28  vehicle and died shortly after the incident, and Sandrine Tunc

29  survived the accident and was transferred to the Ryder Trauma

30  Center at the Jackson Memorial Hospital, and

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 34
    35-102-05




 1         WHEREAS, the parents of Stephanie Tunc, Claude Tunc and

 2  Martine Tunc, seek to recover damages for their mental pain

 3  and suffering, as well as future loss of support of services

 4  based on the death of their daughter, and

 5         WHEREAS, Sandrine Tunc seeks damages for past pain and

 6  suffering, disability, impairment, disfigurement, mental

 7  anguish, inconvenience, and lost capacity to enjoy life;

 8  future pain, suffering, disability, impairment, disfigurement,

 9  mental anguish, inconvenience, and lost capacity to enjoy

10  life; loss of future earning capacity; and future medical and

11  psychiatric care and rehabilitation, and

12         WHEREAS, Sandrine Tunc was hospitalized from February

13  22, 2003, through February 28, 2003, at the Jackson Memorial

14  Hospital for a lacerated liver, fractured ribs, punctured

15  lung, contusions, and hematomas, and, as a result of the

16  injuries, has disfiguring scars, as well as a permanent

17  hardened cyst-like hematoma in the lower left groin area, and

18         WHEREAS, Sandrine Tunc incurred a medical bill of

19  $37,624.20 for her treatment at the Jackson Memorial Hospital

20  Trauma Center, and the decedent, Stephanie Tunc, incurred a

21  bill of $45,030.24 at the Jackson Memorial Hospital Trauma

22  Center, and

23         WHEREAS, Sandrine Tunc is receiving continuous medical

24  and psychiatric care due to the above injuries, as well as the

25  emotional trauma of watching her sister being crushed to death

26  by the vehicle while they were lying side by side on the

27  beach, and

28         WHEREAS, as a result of a suit filed following the

29  incident, the City of Miami Beach Commission voluntarily

30  agreed to a settlement of this cause in the amount of $1.5

31  million, of which $200,000 will be paid by the City of Miami

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 34
    35-102-05




 1  Beach and the remaining $1.3 million will submitted pursuant

 2  to a claim bill to be presented to the Legislature in the

 3  amount of $1.3 million which the City of Miami Beach agreed to

 4  support and approve; the City of Miami Beach Commission did in

 5  fact convene and adopt the settlement, thereby agreeing to

 6  support and give its approval to a claim bill to be presented

 7  to the Legislature in the amount of $1.3 million, NOW,

 8  THEREFORE,

 9  

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

11  

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 Miami Beach is authorized and

15  directed to appropriate from funds not otherwise appropriated

16  and to draw $1.3 million pursuant to the settlement agreement

17  to be paid to Claude Tunc and Martine Tunc, individually and

18  as co-personal representatives of the estate of Stephanie

19  Tunc, deceased, and Sandrine Tunc, which is inclusive of costs

20  and attorney's fees as limited in accordance with section

21  768.28, Florida Statutes.

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

23  law.

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