HB 1597

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act for the relief of Eric Brody by the Broward County
3	Sheriff's Office; providing for an appropriation to
4	compensate Eric Brody for injuries sustained as a result
5	of the negligence of the Broward County Sheriff's Office;
6	providing a limitation on the payment of fees and costs;
7	providing an effective date.
8
9	WHEREAS, on the evening of March 3, 1998, 18-year-old Eric
10	Brody, a college-bound high school senior, was returning home
11	from his part-time job at the Sawgrass Mills Sports Authority,
12	driving his 1982 AMC Concord eastbound on Oakland Park Boulevard
13	in Sunrise, Florida, and
14	WHEREAS, that same evening, Broward County Sheriff's Deputy
15	Christopher Thieman was driving his Broward County Sheriff's
16	Office cruiser westbound on Oakland Park Boulevard on his way to
17	work at the Weston Station, and
18	WHEREAS, at the time that Deputy Thieman left the home of
19	his girlfriend, he had less than 15 minutes to travel 11 miles
20	in order to make roll call on time. The speed limit on his route
21	to the Weston Station was 45 mph, and
22	WHEREAS, at approximately 10:36 p.m., Eric Brody attempted
23	to make a left-hand turn into his neighborhood at the
24	intersection of N.W. 117th Avenue and Oakland Park Boulevard.
25	Eric Brody's car cleared two of the three westbound lanes on
26	Oakland Park Boulevard. Deputy Thieman, who had been traveling
27	in the inside westbound lane closest to the median, suddenly and
28	inexplicably steered his vehicle to the right, across the center
29	lane and into the outside lane, where the front end of his car
30	struck the passenger side of Eric Brody's car, just behind the
31	right front wheel and near the passenger door, and
32	WHEREAS, Deputy Thieman claimed at trial that he had no
33	idea how fast he was traveling and there were no reported
34	witnesses to the accident; however, experts for the claimant and
35	the defendant testified that Deputy Thieman was driving between
36	60 mph and 70 mph when he struck the passenger side of Eric
37	Brody's car, and
38	WHEREAS, Eric Brody was found unconscious 6 minutes later
39	by paramedics, his head and upper torso leaning upright and
40	toward the passenger-side door. Although Eric Brody was out of
41	his seat belt, photographs of the accident scene show that the
42	seat belt was fully spooled out, with the retractor jammed,
43	dangling out of the driver-side door, indicating it had been in
44	use at the time and involved in a high-speed impact. The right
45	side of Eric Brody's head had struck the intruding passenger-
46	side door, causing skull fractures and brain sheering, bruising,
47	bleeding, and swelling, and
48	WHEREAS, Eric Brody was airlifted by helicopter to Broward
49	General Hospital where he was placed on a ventilator and
50	underwent an emergency craniotomy. He was in a coma for 6 months
51	and underwent extensive rehabilitation, having to relearn how to
52	walk and talk, and
53	WHEREAS, Eric Brody, who is now 29 years old, has been left
54	profoundly brain-injured and lives with his parents. His speech
55	is barely intelligible, he has significant memory loss and
56	cognitive dysfunction, and he has visual problems. Eric also has
57	impaired fine and gross motor skills and has very poor balance.
58	Although Eric is able to use a walker for short distances, he
59	must mostly uses a wheelchair to get around. The entire left
60	side of his body is partially paralyzed and spastic, and he
61	needs help with many of his daily functions. Though he has a
62	normal life expectancy, Eric Brody is permanently and totally
63	disabled, and
64	WHEREAS, the Brody family alleged in their lawsuit against
65	the Broward County Sheriff's Office that Deputy Thieman was
66	negligent in the operation of his vehicle by driving too fast
67	and by steering his vehicle two lanes to the right where the
68	impact occurred. In reconstructing the accident, experts
69	determined that if Deputy Thieman had remained within the inside
70	lane, there would have been no collision, and
71	WHEREAS, the Broward County Sheriff's Office alleged that
72	Eric failed to yield the right-of-way and use his seat belt.
73	However, the seat belt expert the Broward Sheriff's Office
74	called at trial admitted under cross-examination that the fact
75	that the seat belt was spooled out and the retractor jammed was
76	consistent with seat belt usage in a high-speed impact, and
77	WHEREAS, the Brodys proved at trial that Deputy Thieman's
78	speed caused Eric Brody to misjudge the time and distance he had
79	to clear the intersection. The Brody's experts re-created the
80	accident by conducting an exact car-to-car crash test, using
81	identical vehicles, an instrumented hybrid III dummy, and fast-
82	action cameras. The crash test demonstrated that regardless of
83	the fact that the seat belt was spooled out and the retractor
84	was jammed, given the severity of this crash and the significant
85	amount of intrusion into the occupant compartment where Eric was
86	seated, Eric's head would have made contact with the passenger
87	door anyway and a seat belt could not have prevented his
88	injuries. During the crash, the test dummy, which was wearing a
89	seat belt, struck its head on the passenger door within inches
90	of where Eric Brody's head actually struck the passenger door,
91	providing additional proof that Eric was wearing a seat belt,
92	and
93	WHEREAS, on December 1, 2005, a Broward County jury made up
94	of three men and three women found that Deputy Thieman and the
95	Broward County Sheriff's Office were 100 percent negligent and
96	Eric Brody was not comparatively negligent, and rendered a
97	$30,690,000 verdict in favor of the then 25-year-old Eric Brody.
98	The trial lasted almost 2 months, including a 2-week break due
99	to Hurricane Wilma, and
100	WHEREAS, judgment was entered shortly after the jury
101	verdict for the full amount of $30,690,000, and the court
102	entered a cost judgment for $270,372.30, for a total judgment of
103	$30,960,372.30. The trial court denied the Broward County
104	Sheriff's Office posttrial motions for judgment notwithstanding
105	the verdict, new trial, or remittitur. The Broward County
106	Sheriff's Office appealed the final judgment but not the cost
107	judgment. The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld the verdict
108	and the amount of the verdict in the fall of 2007. The Broward
109	County Sheriff's Office subsequently petitioned the Florida
110	Supreme Court, which denied the petition in April of 2008.
111	Therefore, all legal remedies have been exhausted and a claim
112	bill against the Broward County Sheriff's Office is the only
113	recourse available to Eric Brody, and
114	WHEREAS, before the lawsuit was filed, the Brodys made a
115	demand for $3 million, which was the limit of the insurance
116	policy of the Broward County Sheriff's Office, reiterated that
117	demand at mediation, and gave the carrier additional time after
118	mediation to pay the policy limit before the Brody's attorneys
119	began the expense of preparing the case for trial. The insurance
120	carrier ignored multiple attempts to settle the case and,
121	instead, waited until the day the trial judge set the case for
122	trial before offering to pay the limit of the policy. By that
123	time, nearly $750,000 had been spent preparing the case for
124	trial and Eric Brody had liens of nearly $1 million for his
125	health care costs. Because so much money had been spent, it was
126	determined that settlement was no longer feasible. By the time
127	the trial was completed, an additional $250,000 had been spent
128	on trial costs, and
129	WHEREAS, the failure of the liability insurance carrier for
130	the Broward County Sheriff's Office to settle and pay the $3
131	million policy limit when it could and should have done so on
132	multiple occasions unreasonably exposed the Broward County
133	Sheriff's Office to an excess judgment and claim bill.
134	Consequently, upon passage of this claim bill, the Broward
135	County Sheriff's Office will have standing to initiate an action
136	against the insurer for bad-faith claims practice in order to
137	recover the entire amount of the claim bill, and
138	WHEREAS, the Broward County Sheriff's Office has paid
139	$200,000 pursuant to the limits of liability set forth under s.
140	768.28, Florida Statutes, and
141	WHEREAS, Eric Brody seeks the remaining amount of the
142	judgment through the submission of a claim bill to the
143	Legislature, NOW, THEREFORE,
144
145	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
146
147	Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
148	are found and declared to be true.
149	Section 2.  The Sheriff of Broward County is authorized and
150	directed to appropriate from funds of the Broward County
151	Sheriff's Office not otherwise appropriated and to draw a
152	warrant payable to Eric Brody in the sum of $10,000,000 as
153	compensation for injuries and damages sustained.
154	Section 3.  Any amount awarded under this act pursuant to
155	the waiver of sovereign immunity permitted under s. 768.28,
156	Florida Statutes, and this award is intended to provide the sole
157	compensation for all present and future claims arising out of
158	the factual situation described in the preamble to this act
159	which resulted in the injury to Eric Brody. The total amount
160	paid for attorney's fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other
161	similar expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25
162	percent of the total amount awarded under section 2.
163	Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

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