TALLAHASSEE — Jacob Rodgers was a passenger in a friend’s pickup truck on the evening of Oct. 7, 2015, when the driver of a Gainesville city utility vehicle ran a stop sign and hit the pickup.
Rodgers, then 20, was thrown from the pickup and suffered injuries that left him paralyzed. Now, nearly a decade later, Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis have approved a bill directing the city to pay $10.8 million to Rodgers.
The bill (HB 6521) was one of nine “claim” bills that lawmakers approved this year directing state and local government agencies to provide compensation for injuries, a death and a case of wrongful incarceration.
The compensation for Rodgers, which was the largest claim bill this year, came after a lengthy legal battle with the city and, ultimately, an $11 million settlement, according to the bill and other legislative documents. The city had already paid the other $200,000 under the settlement.
As another example, DeSantis last month signed a bill (SB 28) directing the public South Broward Hospital District to pay $6.1 million to compensate Darline Angervil for catastrophic birth-related injuries suffered in 2014 by her child, identified in legislative documents by the initials J.R. The birth occurred at Memorial Hospital West, which is owned by the district.
The Legislature considers such issues each year because of the state’s sovereign-immunity laws, which generally shield government agencies from liability for negligence. Under the laws, agencies’ liability is capped at $200,000 for payments to a single person and $300,000 if multiple people are involved in an incident.
The limits can be exceeded if lawmakers pass claim bills.
Sovereign immunity drew heavy attention during this year’s session, as the House passed a bill (HB 301) that would have increased the limits on payments. But the Senate did not approve the measure.
Under the House bill, the limits would have increased to $500,000 for a single person and $1 million if multiple people were involved. Also, the bill would have allowed government agencies to settle lawsuits for higher amounts without needing to go through the lengthy and uncertain claim-bill process.
The effort to increase the limits drew opposition from some local government agencies, including rural school districts that said it would drive up costs. But supporters of changing the sovereign-immunity laws said the current limits prevent victims from getting adequately compensated after being injured by government negligence.
“I know there’s a cost to this bill,” bill sponsor Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, said during a February meeting. “I’m just saying it’s worth it.”
Here are brief descriptions of the other claim bills that passed this year:
- HB 6503, which directs Sarasota County to pay $2.291 million to Mande Penney-Lemmon, who was seriously injured in 2018 when the driver of a county truck rear-ended her vehicle. DeSantis last week allowed the bill to become law without his signature, according to information on the House website. He signed the other claim bills.
- SB 26, which directs the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to pay $2.252 million because of serious injuries suffered by sisters Kristen and Lia McIntosh, who were passengers in a vehicle that collided with a department law-enforcement car in 2022 on Interstate 95 in Nassau County.
- SB 10, which directs the state chief financial officer to pay $1.722 million to Sidney Holmes, who was wrongfully convicted and served 34 years in prison on an armed-robbery charge.
- SB 14, which directs the city of Miami Beach to pay $1.7 million to the estate of Peniel Janvier, who drowned after being pushed into a community pool in 2022.
- SB 8, which directs the Pasco County School Board to pay $1.2 million because of injuries, including neurological injuries, suffered in 2006 by Marcus Button, who was a passenger in a car that collided with a school bus.
- SB 20, which directs Hillsborough County to pay $400,000 to compensate a minor, identified by the initials J.N., for injuries she suffered in a bicycle accident alleged to have occurred because a sidewalk and culvert were not properly maintained.
- SB 22, which directs the South Broward Hospital District to pay $200,000 to Eric and Jennifer Miles over the alleged failure to diagnose and treat their child’s bowel obstruction, which led to what the bill described as “life-altering and horrific” injuries.