CS/HB 1151

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	authorizing the Sheriff of Broward County, in lieu of
7	payment, to execute to Eric Brody and his legal guardians
8	an assignment of all claims that the Broward County
9	Sheriff's Office has against its insurer arising out of
10	the insurer's handling of the claim against the sheriff's
11	office; clarifying that such assignment does not impair
12	the ability or right of the assignees to pursue the final
13	judgment and cost judgment against the insurer; providing
14	a limitation on the payment of fees and costs related to
15	the claim against the Broward County Sheriff's Office and
16	an exception to that limitation as to any assigned claims
17	brought against the insurer; providing an effective date.
18
19	WHEREAS, on the evening of March 3, 1998, 18-year-old Eric
20	Brody, a college-bound high school senior, was returning home
21	from his part-time job at the Sawgrass Mills Sports Authority.
22	Eric was driving his 1982 AMC Concord eastbound on Oakland Park
23	Boulevard in Sunrise, Florida, and
24	WHEREAS, that same evening, Broward County Sheriff's Deputy
25	Christopher Thieman, who had been visiting his girlfriend and
26	was running late for duty, was driving his Broward County
27	Sheriff's Office cruiser westbound on Oakland Park Boulevard. At
28	the time he left his girlfriend's house, Deputy Thieman had less
29	than 15 minutes to travel 11 miles to make roll call on time,
30	which was mandatory pursuant to sheriff's office policy and
31	procedure, and
32	WHEREAS, at approximately 10:36 p.m., Eric Brody began to
33	make a left-hand turn into his neighborhood at the intersection
34	of N.W. 117th Avenue and Oakland Park Boulevard. Deputy Thieman,
35	who was driving in excess of the 45-mile-per-hour posted speed
36	limit and traveling in the opposite direction, was not within
37	the intersection and was more than 430 feet away from Eric
38	Brody's car when Eric Brody began the turn. Eric Brody's car
39	cleared two of the three westbound lanes on Oakland Park
40	Boulevard, and
41	WHEREAS, Deputy Thieman, who was traveling in the inside
42	westbound lane closest to the median, suddenly and inexplicably
43	steered his vehicle to the right, across the center lane and
44	into the outside lane, where the front end of his car struck the
45	passenger side of Eric's car with great force, just behind the
46	right front wheel and near the passenger door, and
47	WHEREAS, Deputy Thieman testified at trial that although he
48	knew that the posted speed limit was 45 miles per hour, he
49	refused to provide an estimate as to how fast he was traveling
50	before the crash, and
51	WHEREAS, despite the appearance of a conflict of interest,
52	the Broward County Sheriff's Office chose to conduct the
53	official crash investigation instead of deferring to the City of
54	Sunrise Police Department, which had jurisdiction, or the
55	Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), which often investigates motor
56	vehicle collisions involving non-FHP law enforcement officers so
57	as to avoid any possible conflict of interest, and
58	WHEREAS, in the course of the investigation, the Broward
59	County Sheriff's Office lost key evidence from the crashed
60	vehicles and did not report any witnesses even though the first
61	responders to the crash scene were police officers from the City
62	of Sunrise, and
63	WHEREAS, the Broward County detective who led the crash
64	investigation entered inaccurate data into a computerized
65	accident reconstruction program which skewed the speed that
66	Deputy Thieman was driving, but, nevertheless, determined that
67	he was still traveling well over the speed limit, and
68	WHEREAS, accident reconstruction experts called by both
69	parties testified that Deputy Thieman was driving at least 60 to
70	more than 70 miles per hour when his vehicle slammed into the
71	passenger side of Eric Brody's car, and
72	WHEREAS, Eric Brody was found unconscious 6 minutes later
73	by paramedics, his head and upper torso leaning upright and
74	toward the passenger-side door. Although he was out of his
75	shoulder harness and seat belt by the time paramedics arrived,
76	the Brody's proved that Eric was wearing his seat belt and that
77	the 16-year-old seat belt buckle failed during the crash.
78	Photographs taken at the scene by the sheriff's office
79	investigators showed the belt to be fully spooled out because
80	the retractor was jammed, with the belt dangling outside the
81	vehicle from the driver-side door, providing proof that Eric
82	Brody was wearing his seat belt and shoulder harness during the
83	crash, and
84	WHEREAS, accident reconstruction and human factor experts
85	called by both the plaintiff and the defendant agreed that if
86	Deputy Thieman had been driving at the speed limit, Eric Brody
87	would have easily completed his turn, and
88	WHEREAS, the experts also agreed that if Deputy Thieman had
89	simply remained within his lane of travel, regardless of his
90	speed, there would not have been a collision, and
91	WHEREAS, in order to investigate the seat-belt defense,
92	experts for Eric Brody recreated the accident using an exact
93	car-to-car crash test that was conducted by a nationally
94	recognized crash test facility. The crash test involved vehicles
95	identical to the Brody and Thieman vehicles, a fully
96	instrumented hybrid III dummy, and high-speed action cameras,
97	and
98	WHEREAS, the crash test proved that Eric Brody was wearing
99	his restraint system during the crash because the seat-belted
100	test dummy struck its head on the passenger door within inches
101	of where Eric Brody's head actually struck the passenger door,
102	and
103	WHEREAS, when Eric Brody's head struck the passenger door
104	of his vehicle, the door was crushing inward from the force of
105	the impact with the police cruiser while at the same time his
106	upper torso was moving toward the point of impact and the
107	passenger door. The impact resulted in skull fractures and
108	massive brain sheering, bleeding, bruising, and swelling, and
109	WHEREAS, Eric Brody was airlifted by helicopter to Broward
110	General Hospital where he was placed on a ventilator and
111	underwent an emergency craniotomy and neurosurgery. He began to
112	recover from a deep coma more than 7 months after his injury and
113	underwent extensive rehabilitation, having to relearn how to
114	walk, talk, feed himself, and perform other basic functions, and
115	WHEREAS, Eric Brody, who is now 31 years old, has been left
116	profoundly brain-injured, lives with his parents, and is mostly
117	isolated from his former friends and other young people his age.
118	His speech is barely intelligible and he has significant
119	cognitive dysfunction, judgment impairment, memory loss, and
120	neuro-visual disabilities. Eric Brody also has impaired fine and
121	gross motor skills and very poor balance. Although Eric is able
122	to use a walker for short distances, he mostly uses a wheelchair
123	to get around. The entire left side of his body is partially
124	paralyzed and spastic, and he needs help with many of his daily
125	functions. Eric Brody is permanently and totally disabled;
126	however, he has a normal life expectancy, and
127	WHEREAS, the cost of Eric Brody's life care plan is nearly
128	$10 million, and he has been left totally dependent on public
129	health programs and taxpayer assistance since 1998, and
130	WHEREAS, the Broward County Sheriff's Office was insured
131	for this claim through Ranger Insurance Company and paid more
132	than $400,000 for liability coverage that has a policy limit of
133	$3 million, and
134	WHEREAS, Ranger Insurance Company ignored seven demand
135	letters and other attempts by the Brody's to settle the case for
136	the policy limit, and instead chose to wait for more than 7
137	years following the date of the accident until the day the trial
138	judge specially set the case for trial before offering to pay
139	the policy limit. By that time nearly $750,000 had been spent
140	preparing the case for trial, and Eric Brody had past due bills
141	and liens of approximately $1.5 million for health and
142	rehabilitative care services. Because so much money had been
143	spent preparing the case for trial, because of the exorbitant
144	costs of Eric Brody's medical bills and liens, and because the
145	costs of future care continued to escalate, settlement for the
146	policy limit was no longer feasible, and
147	WHEREAS, on December 1, 2005, after a 2-month trial, a
148	Broward County jury consisting of three men and three women
149	found that that Deputy Thieman and the Broward County Sheriff's
150	Office were 100 percent negligent, and Eric Brody was not
151	comparatively negligent, and
152	WHEREAS, the jury found Eric Brody's damages to be
153	$30,609,298, including a determination that his past and future
154	care and other economic damages were $11,326,216, and
155	WHEREAS, final judgment was entered for $30,609,298, and
156	the court entered a cost judgment for $270,372.30, for a total
157	of $30,879,670.30, and
158	WHEREAS, the court denied the Broward County Sheriff's
159	Office post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the
160	verdict, new trial, or remittitur, and
161	WHEREAS, the insurer of the Broward County Sheriff's Office
162	retained appellate counsel and elected to appeal the final
163	judgment but not the cost judgment, and
164	WHEREAS, the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld the
165	verdict in the fall of 2007, and
166	WHEREAS, the insurer of the Broward County Sheriff's Office
167	subsequently petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to seek
168	another appeal, but the petition was denied in April of 2008,
169	and
170	WHEREAS, all legal remedies for all parties involved have
171	been exhausted and this case is ripe for a claim bill, and
172	WHEREAS, upon the passage of a claim bill for any amount in
173	excess of the insurance policy limit of $3 million, the Broward
174	County Sheriff's Office may have a cause of action pursuant to
175	state law against its insurer for bad-faith-claims practices,
176	breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and other possible
177	legal remedies which may result in a recovery from the insurer
178	to pay all outstanding sums owed to the guardianship of Eric
179	Brody, and
180	WHEREAS, the Broward County Sheriff's Office has paid
181	$200,000 pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the final
182	judgment and cost judgment remainder is sought through the
183	submission of a claim bill to the Legislature, and
184	WHEREAS, Eric Brody is willing to accept an assignment of
185	all claims the Broward County Sheriff's Office may have against
186	its insurer in lieu of the sheriff's office making any payment
187	on this claim, and
188	WHEREAS, if the Broward County Sheriff's Office assigns all
189	of its claims against its insurer to Eric Brody, the guardians
190	of Eric Brody have offered to not hold the Broward County
191	Sheriff's Office responsible for any payment, NOW, THEREFORE,
192
193	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
194
195	Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
196	are found and declared to be true.
197	Section 2.  The Sheriff of Broward County is authorized and
198	directed to appropriate from funds of the Broward County
199	Sheriff's Office not otherwise appropriated and to draw a
200	warrant payable to Eric Brody in the sum of $7,500,000. In lieu
201	of payment, the Sheriff of Broward County may assign to Eric
202	Brody and his legal guardians all rights it may have against its
203	liability insurance carrier for breach of contract, breach of
204	fiduciary duty, bad faith, and any similar or related claims
205	that may exist pursuant to state law. If the Sheriff of Broward
206	County makes an assignment to the claimant as provided for in
207	this section, the Broward County Sheriff's Office is not
208	responsible for any further payment to the claimant.
209	Section 3.  If the Sheriff of Broward County makes the
210	assignment authorized under section 2 of this act, the
211	protection given to the Broward County Sheriff's Office does not
212	impair in any respect the ability or right of the assignees to
213	pursue the final judgment and cost judgment against the insurer
214	of the Broward County Sheriff's Office, less the $200,000
215	already paid, pursuant to state law.
216	Section 4.  The amount paid by the Broward County Sheriff's
217	Office pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amount
218	awarded under this act are intended to provide the sole
219	compensation for all claims against the Broward County Sheriff's
220	Office arising out of the facts described in this act which
221	resulted in the injuries to Eric Brody. The total amount of
222	attorney's fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other similar
223	expenses relating to the claim against the Broward County
224	Sheriff's Office may not exceed 25 percent of the total amount
225	awarded under section 2 of this act. Any attorney's fees, costs,
226	and related expenses awarded by a court or earned pursuant to
227	the prosecution of an assigned claim are not limited by this
228	section and shall be earned in accordance with state law.
229	Section 5.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

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