Senate Bill sb0048

    Florida Senate - 2006                                    SB 48

    By Senator Lynn





    7-146-06

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the City of Tallahassee;

  3         providing for the relief of Sheryl D. Allen and

  4         George F. Allen, her husband; providing for an

  5         appropriation to compensate them for injuries

  6         and damages sustained as a result of a

  7         trailer/float accident involving Sheryl D.

  8         Allen and employees of the City of Tallahassee;

  9         providing an effective date.

10  

11         WHEREAS, on December 8, 2001, Sheryl D. Allen was in

12  Tallahassee chaperoning her daughter's Keystone Heights High

13  School band as they participated in the city's 2001 Winter

14  Festival parade, and

15         WHEREAS, Sheryl D. Allen was hit by a large

16  trailer/float owned by the City of Tallahassee and driven by a

17  City of Tallahassee employee when the trailer swung wide,

18  leaving the parade disembarkment area, and

19         WHEREAS, the contact with the trailer knocked Sheryl D.

20  Allen to the ground, resulting in a skull fracture and

21  significant closed-head injury, and

22         WHEREAS, the accident of December 8, 2001, formed the

23  basis of a negligence action filed against the City of

24  Tallahassee in 2002, and

25         WHEREAS, the city, after extensive discovery in the

26  litigation, admitted liability, and

27         WHEREAS, on April 7, 2004, the City of Tallahassee and

28  Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen mediated the case prior to

29  trial and reached an agreement whereby the city agreed to pay

30  Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen $200,000, pursuant to the

31  statutory limits on waiver of sovereign immunity, and to

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    Florida Senate - 2006                                    SB 48
    7-146-06




 1  support the passage of a claims bill in the Florida

 2  Legislature for an additional payment of $775,000, and

 3         WHEREAS, the Tallahassee City Commission and the

 4  Circuit Court in and for the Second Judicial Circuit approved

 5  the settlement agreement reached at mediation, and the city

 6  has paid $200,000 to Sheryl D. Allen, George F. Allen, and

 7  their attorneys, and

 8         WHEREAS, the City of Tallahassee has agreed to support

 9  the filing and passage of this bill and has agreed that, if

10  this act becomes law, the City of Tallahassee, within 30 days

11  after the effective date of the act, will pay an additional

12  $775,000 to Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen, NOW,

13  THEREFORE,

14  

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

16  

17         Section 1.  The facts contained in the preamble to this

18  act are found and declared to be true.

19         Section 2.  The City of Tallahassee is authorized and

20  directed to appropriate from funds of the city not otherwise

21  appropriated and to draw a warrant in the amount of $775,000,

22  payable to Sheryl D. Allen and George F. Allen as compensation

23  for injuries and damages sustained due to the negligence of

24  employees of the city.

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

26  law.

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