Florida Senate - 2015                              (NP)    SB 40
       
       
        
       By Senator Ring
       
       
       
       
       
       29-00072-15                                             201540__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act for the relief of L.T.; providing an
    3         appropriation to compensate L.T. for injuries and
    4         damages sustained as a result of the negligence of
    5         employees of the Department of Children and Families,
    6         formerly known as the Department of Children and
    7         Family Services; providing a limitation on the payment
    8         of fees and costs; providing an effective date.
    9  
   10         WHEREAS, on August 15, 1995, the Department of Children and
   11  Families removed 14-month-old L.T. and her infant brother from
   12  their mother’s custody because they were not receiving adequate
   13  care, and
   14         WHEREAS, the Department of Children and Families
   15  temporarily placed the children into the home of the children’s
   16  great aunt and uncle, Vicki and Eddie Thomas, and
   17         WHEREAS, a background check that was conducted shortly
   18  after L.T. and her brother were placed in the Thomases’ home
   19  indicated that Mr. Thomas had once been convicted of a
   20  misdemeanor and possession of narcotics equipment, and
   21         WHEREAS, the background check also revealed that Ms. Thomas
   22  had been charged with, but apparently not convicted of, larceny,
   23  and
   24         WHEREAS, the background check did not reveal any prior
   25  history of violence, sex offenses, or child abuse, and
   26         WHEREAS, the Department of Children and Families conducted
   27  a home study, interviews, and an investigation, concluded that
   28  the Thomases were capable of providing a safe and loving home
   29  for L.T. and her brother, and approved the placement, and
   30         WHEREAS, on August 21, 1996, approximately 1 year after
   31  L.T. and her brother had been placed in the Thomases’ home, Mr.
   32  Thomas was charged with committing a lewd and lascivious act on
   33  a child under the age of 16, and
   34         WHEREAS, the alleged victim was the 13-year-old daughter of
   35  a woman with whom Mr. Thomas was having an extramarital affair,
   36  and the state later amended the charge to add a count for sexual
   37  battery on a child by a familial or custodial authority, and
   38         WHEREAS, after two hung jury trials in January and March of
   39  1997, Mr. Thomas pled no contest in April 1997 to committing a
   40  lewd, lascivious, and indecent act on a child under the age of
   41  16, and
   42         WHEREAS, Mr. Thomas was sentenced to 5 years’ probation and
   43  required to attend sex offender classes and register as a sex
   44  offender, and
   45         WHEREAS, on May 9, 1997, 1 month after Mr. Thomas entered
   46  his plea and was convicted of a child sex crime, the Department
   47  of Children and Families recommended, and the judge approved, an
   48  order allowing Mr. Thomas to return home and have unsupervised
   49  contact with the children, and
   50         WHEREAS, although the policies of the Department of
   51  Children and Families barred Mr. Thomas from being able to adopt
   52  a child because of his conviction for a sex act with a child and
   53  for his sex offender status, the policies did not prohibit the
   54  continued placement of L.T. and her brother in the Thomases’
   55  home, and so the children remained with the Thomases, and
   56         WHEREAS, the Department of Children and Families
   57  subsequently recommended to the court the permanent, long-term
   58  placement of L.T. and her brother in the Thomases’ home and
   59  further recommended that the children be removed from protective
   60  services, with no further supervision by the department, and
   61         WHEREAS, on March 3, 2000, following the recommendation of
   62  the Department of Children and Families, the court approved L.T.
   63  and her brother’s long-term placement with the Thomases and
   64  removed the children from continued protective services, and
   65         WHEREAS, on March 24, 2003, an abuse hotline call to the
   66  Department of Children and Families reported that L.T. was being
   67  abused by Mr. Thomas and that both Mr. and Ms. Thomas were using
   68  drugs in the children’s presence, and
   69         WHEREAS, the next day, a child protective investigator for
   70  the Department of Children and Families interviewed L.T. and her
   71  brother while in the presence of Ms. Thomas, and neither child
   72  was asked to be interviewed outside Ms. Thomas’s presence, and
   73         WHEREAS, L.T. and her brother denied the abuse allegations
   74  while Ms. Thomas watched and listened to them, and
   75         WHEREAS, results from new background checks and drug
   76  screens were negative, and the Department of Children and
   77  Families concluded that L.T. and her brother were not at risk of
   78  abuse and closed the case, and
   79         WHEREAS, on February 24, 2005, L.T. ran away from the
   80  Thomases’ home and was found by law enforcement officers, and
   81         WHEREAS, L.T. ran away from home because she had been
   82  repeatedly sexually and physically abused by Mr. Thomas and
   83  physically, verbally, and emotionally abused for years by Ms.
   84  Thomas, and
   85         WHEREAS, L.T. and her brother were finally removed from the
   86  Thomases’ home in 2005, and
   87         WHEREAS, since then, L.T. has been the subject of repeated
   88  Baker Act proceedings and suicide attempts and has been in and
   89  out of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric facilities, and
   90         WHEREAS, L.T. has been seen and treated by physicians and
   91  mental health care professionals who have diagnosed her with
   92  depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and
   93  other disorders attributed to her trauma, and
   94         WHEREAS, although L.T. struggles with the symptoms of
   95  posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety, she is
   96  now 20 years of age, attends a university in this state, and
   97  supports herself with part-time employment as she works toward
   98  her goal of becoming a mental health care professional to help
   99  children who have been abused, neglected, or traumatized, and
  100         WHEREAS, a lawsuit was brought on L.T.’s behalf in state
  101  and federal courts alleging negligence pursuant to s. 768.28,
  102  Florida Statutes, and civil rights violations pursuant to 42
  103  U.S.C. s. 1983, and
  104         WHEREAS, the civil rights claims were disposed of by the
  105  trial court, but the negligence claims continued to be
  106  litigated, and a jury trial of the case was set in Leon County,
  107  and
  108         WHEREAS, the parties attended a court-ordered mediation and
  109  on June 21, 2010, the parties agreed to a mediated settlement
  110  under which L.T. shall receive $1 million, of which $200,000 was
  111  paid and the balance of $800,000 shall be submitted through a
  112  claim bill that the Department of Children and Families agrees
  113  to support, NOW, THEREFORE,
  114  
  115  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
  116  
  117         Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are
  118  found and declared to be true.
  119         Section 2. There is appropriated from the General Revenue
  120  Fund to the Department of Children and Families the sum of
  121  $800,000 for the relief of L.T. for the injuries and damages she
  122  sustained. After payment of attorney fees and costs, lobbying
  123  fees, other similar expenses relating to this claim, outstanding
  124  medical liens, and other immediate needs, the remaining funds
  125  shall be placed into a special needs trust created for the
  126  exclusive use and benefit of L.T.
  127         Section 3. The Chief Financial Officer is directed to draw
  128  a warrant in the sum of $800,000, payable to L.T., upon funds in
  129  the State Treasury to the credit of the Department of Children
  130  and Families, and the Chief Financial Officer is directed to pay
  131  the same out of such funds in the State Treasury not otherwise
  132  appropriated.
  133         Section 4. The amount awarded pursuant to the waiver of
  134  sovereign immunity under s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the
  135  amount awarded under this act are intended to provide the sole
  136  compensation for all present and future claims arising out of
  137  the factual situation described in the preamble to this act
  138  which resulted in the injuries and damages to L.T. The total
  139  amount paid for attorney fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other
  140  similar expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25
  141  percent of the total amount awarded under this act.
  142         Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.