“Claims Bills” Play Politics With People's Lives | Susan Clary

In the 1998 movie Sliding Doors, Gwyneth Paltrow plays a woman living parallel lives whose future hinges on whether she catches a certain train.

Maybe Eric Brody, 18, who lives in Sunrise with his parents, saw the movie. It came out just a few weeks before a speeding Broward sheriff’s deputy slammed into his car, leaving him brain-damaged and partially paralyzed.

Had Eric been hit by a driver from a private company, his parallel story would have a different ending. Why? By now, the company’s insurance would have paid his medical bills and compensated him for pain and suffering, loss of future income and attorney’s fees.

Instead, while a jury awarded Eric $30.6 million in 2005, the defendant was the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the government is under no obligation to fully pay.

When the government recklessly harms you, the doctrine of sovereign immunity says you may collect no more than $200,000, an amount unadjusted since 1981. 

Sovereign immunity is meant to protect the government from excessive claims and prevent a chilling effect on people like police officers who might be less willing to investigate if they can be sued. But its ridiculously low limit doesn’t begin to cover the round-the-clock care needed for this young man. And the process creates enormous barriers for everyday families who only seek justice.

The only way for families to get relief is through a “claims bill” -- an actual new law passed by the Florida Legislature -- that requires lobbyists and sponsors, votes and passage, and eventually, the governor’s signature.

The Brody family isn’t alone in this frustrating, years-long journey. Among others, there’s the woman who died after a ladder flew off the back of a Department of Transportation truck, a judge whose surgery was botched by a state-employed doctor and the family of DeVaughn Darling, who died during football workouts at Florida State after coaches ignored his obvious signs of struggle.

After 13 long years, Chuck and Sharon Brody this month saw the Florida Senate pass a bill that would award their son Eric $10.75 million in compensation. But now, they face the Florida House of Representatives, which last year blocked claims bills in a show of political gamesmanship.

The more-measured Senate also passed relief for William Dillon, a Brevard County man who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Lawmakers agreed to compensate him $30,000 a year for every year he was locked up -- or $810,000.

Dillon’s lawyer, former Florida State University President Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, says there’s a better way to handle claims bills. He points to New York, which established a Court of Claims for civil litigation against the state and other government entities.  It keeps people wrongly injured by government from having to navigate all three branches of government for relief.

Florida’s system needs reform. Rather than healing the injured, the current process further damages victims. It creates years of red tape, expense and deal making by lobbyists and lawyers who use the system to their advantage.

The court system is designed to take care of people wronged by others. Rather than glad-handing deals in the Capitol’s hallways, a new claims court is where these matters should be settled.

Formerly a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times and Orlando Sentinel, Susan Clary is a freelance writer who runs a nonprofit animal rescue in Orlando. She can be reached at sclary@floridavoices.com

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