Florida Senate - 2017 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 304
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
04/04/2017 .
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The Committee on Judiciary (Thurston) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are
6 found and declared to be true.
7 Section 2. The Palm Beach County School Board is authorized
8 and directed to:
9 (1) Appropriate from funds of the school board not
10 otherwise encumbered and, no later than 30 days after the
11 effective date of this act, draw a warrant in the sum of $1.7
12 million payable to Dustin Reinhardt, to be placed in the Special
13 Needs Trust created for the exclusive use and benefit of Dustin
14 Reinhardt, as compensation for injuries and damages sustained.
15 (2) Purchase, for Dustin Reinhardt’s benefit, three
16 separate $1 million annuities, over a successive 3-year period
17 of time. The first annuity shall be purchased in the year this
18 claim bill is enacted with the other two annuities purchased in
19 successive years thereafter. The first annuity shall make annual
20 disbursements to Dustin Reinhardt, to be placed in the Special
21 Needs Trust created for the exclusive use and benefit of Dustin
22 Reinhardt, beginning on or about September 2023. The second and
23 third annuities shall make annual disbursements to Dustin
24 Reinhardt, to be placed in the Special Needs Trust created for
25 the exclusive use and benefit of Dustin Reinhardt, pursuant to
26 their terms.
27 Section 3. The amount paid by the Palm Beach County School
28 Board pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amount
29 awarded under this act are intended to provide the sole
30 compensation for all present and future claims arising out of
31 the factual situation described in this act which resulted in
32 injuries and damages to Dustin Reinhardt. Of the amount awarded
33 under this act, the total amount paid for attorney fees may not
34 exceed $940,000, the total amount paid for lobbying fees may not
35 exceed $235,000, and no amount may be paid for costs and other
36 similar expenses relating to this claim. Attorney or lobbying
37 fees may not be assessed against the value of the annuity.
38 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
39
40 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
41 And the title is amended as follows:
42 Delete everything before the enacting clause
43 and insert:
44 A bill to be entitled
45 An act for the relief of Dustin Reinhardt by the Palm
46 Beach County School Board; providing for an
47 appropriation and annuity to compensate him for
48 injuries sustained as a result of the negligence of
49 employees of the Palm Beach County School District;
50 providing that certain payments and the amount awarded
51 under the act satisfy all present and future claims
52 related to the negligent act; providing a limitation
53 on the payment of compensation, fees, and costs;
54 providing an effective date.
55
56 WHEREAS, in September 2013, Dustin Reinhardt was a student
57 at Seminole Ridge Community High School in Loxahatchee in Palm
58 Beach County, and was involved in the Army Junior Reserve
59 Officer Training Corps for which he received honors for his
60 participation, and
61 WHEREAS, on September 4, 2013, while in auto shop class at
62 Seminole Ridge Community High School, Dustin Reinhardt was
63 inflating a large truck tire, which proceeded to explode,
64 striking him in his head, and
65 WHEREAS, immediately following the explosion, Dustin
66 Reinhardt was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West
67 Palm Beach where he underwent multiple surgeries, including
68 skull and facial reconstruction procedures, was placed in a
69 chemically induced coma, and spent more than 4 weeks in the
70 intensive care unit, and
71 WHEREAS, Dustin Reinhardt has continued to be impacted by
72 the injuries he incurred from the explosion, including the loss
73 of vision in his right eye, short-term memory loss, and a recent
74 diagnosis of severe traumatic brain injury, and
75 WHEREAS, the traumatic brain injury will impair Dustin
76 Reinhardt’s executive function and has resulted in symptoms such
77 as the exhibition of socially inappropriate behavior, difficulty
78 in planning and taking initiative, difficulty with verbal
79 fluency, an inability to multitask, and difficulty in
80 processing, storing, and retrieving information, and
81 WHEREAS, because of the explosion, Dustin Reinhardt
82 continues to live in supervised care at the Neuro International
83 and is unlikely to ever live an independent life, and
84 WHEREAS, the injuries that Dustin Reinhardt sustained were
85 foreseeable and preventable and the school had a duty to prevent
86 his injuries, and
87 WHEREAS, the parties have agreed to a settlement in the sum
88 of $5 million, and the Palm Beach County School Board has paid
89 $300,000 of the settlement pursuant to the statutory limits of
90 liability set forth in s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, leaving a
91 remaining balance of $4.7 million, NOW, THEREFORE,