| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act for the relief of Marcus Button by the Pasco |
| 3 | County School Board; providing for an appropriation to |
| 4 | compensate Marcus Button for injuries sustained as a |
| 5 | result of the negligence of an employee of the Pasco |
| 6 | County School Board; providing a limitation on the |
| 7 | payment of fees and costs; providing an effective |
| 8 | date. |
| 9 |
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| 10 | WHEREAS, on the morning of September 22, 2006, Jessica |
| 11 | Juettner picked up 16-year-old Marcus Button at his home for |
| 12 | school where both were students at Wesley Chapel High School. As |
| 13 | Jessica drove her Dodge Neon west on State Road 54, Marcus |
| 14 | realized he had left his wallet at home. Jessica turned the car |
| 15 | around and headed back on State Road 54, but as she approached |
| 16 | Meadow Pointe Boulevard, John E. Kinne, who was driving a 35- |
| 17 | foot Pasco County school bus, pulled out in front of her. |
| 18 | Jessica slammed on the brakes, but her car struck the bus |
| 19 | between the wheels and slipped underneath the bus, and |
| 20 | WHEREAS, Marcus, who was riding in the front passenger |
| 21 | seat, sustained facial and skull fractures, brain damage, and |
| 22 | vision loss, and Jessica suffered only minor injuries, and |
| 23 | WHEREAS, Kinne was cited for failing to yield the right-of- |
| 24 | way. Kinne and his backup driver, Linda Bone, were the only |
| 25 | people on the bus and were not seriously injured, and |
| 26 | WHEREAS, Marcus was airlifted to St. Joseph's Children's |
| 27 | Hospital, where he spent 3 weeks recovering. He was then |
| 28 | transferred to Tampa General Hospital for rehabilitation for an |
| 29 | additional 6 weeks. He had to relearn how to walk, and he |
| 30 | currently cannot walk for any substantial length of time without |
| 31 | pain. Marcus lost most of the sight in his right eye, can no |
| 32 | longer smell, has limited ability to taste, and cannot feel |
| 33 | textures. The brain damage he sustained in the crash has caused |
| 34 | him to see and hear things that are not there, to talk with a |
| 35 | British or a Southern accent, and to become paranoid. Facial |
| 36 | fractures have left one side of his face higher than the other, |
| 37 | and |
| 38 | WHEREAS, Marcus returned home in November 2006, but his |
| 39 | parents testified that their son is not the same person who left |
| 40 | for school that September morning. "My son who woke up [in the |
| 41 | hospital] was not the same son I gave birth to," Robin Button |
| 42 | testified. "He was, but he wasn't. It was him, his skin, but it |
| 43 | wasn't him in his skin. Different kid. The son I knew is gone. |
| 44 | He died on that day," and |
| 45 | WHEREAS, the Buttons sued the Pasco County School Board for |
| 46 | negligence in 2007, and the case went to trial. A pediatric |
| 47 | rehabilitation doctor and a neuropsychologist testified at trial |
| 48 | that Marcus will require a lifetime of 24-hour-a-day care, |
| 49 | counseling, interventions, medical care, and pharmaceuticals to |
| 50 | cope with his physical symptoms and control his psychotic and |
| 51 | delusional behavior. He continues to suffer from memory loss, |
| 52 | has trouble sleeping, and struggles to concentrate or stay on |
| 53 | task. An economist who testified at trial estimated Marcus's |
| 54 | future care will cost between $6 million and $10 million. The |
| 55 | economist also testified that Marcus's inability to work in the |
| 56 | future will cost him between $365,000 and $570,000 in lost |
| 57 | wages, and |
| 58 | WHEREAS, the jury of five men and one woman found the Pasco |
| 59 | County School Board 65 percent responsible for the crash. |
| 60 | Jessica was found to be 20 percent responsible, and Marcus 10 |
| 61 | percent. The allocation of responsibility away from the school |
| 62 | board reduced the award to $875,000, and |
| 63 | WHEREAS, the Pasco County School Board has paid the |
| 64 | statutory limit of $200,000 pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida |
| 65 | Statutes, and $675,000 remains unpaid, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 66 |
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| 67 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 68 |
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| 69 | Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act |
| 70 | are found and declared to be true. |
| 71 | Section 2. The Pasco County School Board is authorized and |
| 72 | directed to appropriate from funds of the school board not |
| 73 | otherwise encumbered and to draw a warrant, payable to Marcus |
| 74 | Button, for the amount of $675,000 to compensate him for |
| 75 | injuries and damages sustained due to the negligence of the |
| 76 | school board. |
| 77 | Section 3. The amount paid by the Pasco County School |
| 78 | Board pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amount |
| 79 | awarded under this act are intended to provide the sole |
| 80 | compensation for all present and future claims arising out of |
| 81 | the factual situation described in this act which resulted in |
| 82 | injuries sustained by Marcus Button. The total amount paid for |
| 83 | attorney's fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other similar |
| 84 | expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25 percent of the |
| 85 | total amount awarded under this act. |
| 86 | Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. |