Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 12
Ì509468SÎ509468
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
04/02/2025 .
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The Committee on Judiciary (Gruters) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 70 - 72
4 and insert:
5 a warrant in the sum of $28 million payable to a special needs
6 trust created for the exclusive
7
8 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
9 And the title is amended as follows:
10 Delete lines 4 - 54
11 and insert:
12 appropriation to a special needs trust, to compensate
13 L.P. for injuries and damages sustained due to the
14 negligence of employees and caseworkers of the
15 department; providing a limitation on compensation and
16 the payment of fees and costs; providing an effective
17 date.
18
19 WHEREAS, on June 25, 2015, a family member of the then-6
20 year-old L.P. called the Sarasota Police Department to request a
21 wellness check of the mother of L.P. due to a suicide video the
22 mother sent to relatives, along with other bizarre behaviors
23 that called her mental fitness into question, and
24 WHEREAS, in response to this call, the Sarasota Police
25 Department complied with its statutory duty to report known or
26 possible child abuse by notifying the Department of Children and
27 Families (DCF), which, through its employees and caseworkers,
28 responded to the home late on June 25, 2015, but failed to
29 identify the mother of L.P., much less identify several
30 forewarnings as to the mother’s mental health status, and
31 WHEREAS, because of the inadequate wellness check by DCF
32 employees, including failure to implement a readily available
33 safety plan, L.P. was left in the custody of her mother, rather
34 than her grandmother, who is now her adopted mother and who
35 lived just a few houses away, and
36 WHEREAS, because of the negligence of the DCF caseworkers
37 to recognize the danger to L.P., she was left in her mother’s
38 custody, and
39 WHEREAS, the mother of L.P. attempted to murder L.P. within
40 hours after DCF’s negligent decision, resulting in L.P. being
41 stabbed no fewer than 14 times, including an attempted
42 disembowelment, which required emergency surgery to save her
43 life and multiple follow-up surgeries and treatments, and
44 WHEREAS, as a further consequence of the negligence of DCF
45 through its employees, L.P. will incur a lifetime of significant
46 pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish,
47 inconvenience, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life,
48 medical costs, future surgeries, and psychological costs over a
49 potential duration of more than 65 years, and
50 WHEREAS, following a 2-week trial from February 28 through
51 March 11, 2022, the jury found DCF negligent and awarded L.P.
52 damages resulting in a final judgment in the amount of $28
53 million, and
54 WHEREAS, an appeal to the Second District Court of Appeal
55 affirmed the factual findings and the judgment of the jury and
56 trial court in the case, and
57 WHEREAS, in the 9 years since her mother attempted to
58 murder her, L.P. has incurred the costs of multiple lifesaving
59 surgeries, psychological counseling, and related expenses which
60 remain unpaid or will be incurred, along with a loss of earning
61 capacity, and