Bill Text: FL S2222 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relief/Lopez and Guzman/Miami-Dade County
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-07 - Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration [S2222 Detail]
Download: Florida-2011-S2222-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2011 (NP) SB 2222
By Senator Braynon
33-04535-11 20112222__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act for the relief of Ronnie Lopez and Robert
3 Guzman, individually and as Co-Personal
4 Representatives of the Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez,
5 deceased, and for Ronnie Lopez, Jr., Ashley Lorena
6 Lopez-Velasquez, and Steven Robert Guzman, minor
7 children of Ana-Yency Velasquez, by Miami-Dade County;
8 providing for an appropriation to compensate the
9 estate and the minor children for the death of Ana
10 Yency Velasquez as a result of the negligence of an
11 employee of Miami-Dade County; providing a limitation
12 on attorney’s fees, lobbying fees, and costs;
13 providing an effective date.
14
15 WHEREAS, Ronnie Lopez, Co-Personal Representative of the
16 Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, is the father of Ronnie
17 Lopez, Jr., age 4, and Ashley Lorena Lopez-Velasquez, age 3, and
18 Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, was the mother of Ronnie Lopez,
19 Jr., and Ashley Lorena Lopez-Velasquez, and
20 WHEREAS, Robert Guzman, Co-Personal Representative of the
21 Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, is the father of minor
22 child, Steven Robert Guzman, age 8, and Ana-Yency Velasquez,
23 Deceased, was the mother of Steven Robert Guzman, and
24 WHEREAS, on February 23, 2009, a Miami-Dade County Police
25 Officer, when driving his marked police unit through an
26 intersection, failed to obey a posted stop sign and also did not
27 engage his lights or sirens, and
28 WHEREAS, protocol for the Miami-Dade County Police
29 Department requires that lights and sirens be engaged whenever
30 any police vehicle is in pursuit of another vehicle, and
31 WHEREAS, section 316.271, Florida Statutes, requires lights
32 and sirens to be engaged whenever an authorized emergency
33 vehicle is responding to an emergency or in the immediate
34 pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law, and
35 WHEREAS, the vehicle driven by the Miami-Dade County police
36 unit was in pursuit of a phantom speeding vehicle at the time of
37 the collision, and
38 WHEREAS, the Miami-Dade County police cruiser crashed into
39 and broadsided the vehicle operated by Ana-Yency Velasquez, then
40 23 years of age and the mother of three minor children, at the
41 intersection of N.W. 112th St. and N.W. 12th Ave., and
42 WHEREAS, the Miami-Dade County police cruiser, operated by
43 the officer struck the vehicle driven by Ana-Yency Velasquez
44 with such force that her automobile crashed into the bedroom of
45 a nearby residence, throwing debris from the automobile onto the
46 roof of the residence, and
47 WHEREAS, Ana-Yency Velasquez was killed as a result of the
48 negligence of an employee of Miami-Dade County, Florida, and
49 WHEREAS, mediation of the claims of this matter was held on
50 November 17, 2010, and
51 WHEREAS, at mediation, Miami-Dade County acknowledged that
52 the damages far exceeded the statutory limit of $200,000
53 established under s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the
54 representatives of Miami-Dade County agreed and entered into a
55 Mediation Settlement Agreement, and
56 WHEREAS, in the Mediation Settlement Agreement, Miami-Dade
57 County agreed to pay $150,000 to the plaintiffs under the
58 statutory limits on damages and the remaining $50,000 was paid
59 to the Co-Personal Representatives of the Estate of Ana-Yency
60 Velasquez and to the owner of the house that incurred damage as
61 a result of the crash, and
62 WHEREAS, Miami-Dade County has paid $150,000 to the Co
63 Personal Representatives of the Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez
64 under the statutory limits of liability set forth in s. 768.28,
65 Florida Statutes, and
66 WHEREAS, Miami-Dade County has agreed in the Mediation
67 Settlement Agreement to actively support the passage of a claims
68 bill in the amount of $1,010,000, NOW, THEREFORE,
69
70 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
71
72 Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are
73 found and declared to be true.
74 Section 2. Miami-Dade County is authorized and directed to
75 appropriate from funds of the county not otherwise appropriated
76 and to draw a warrant in the sum of $1,010,000 payable to Ronnie
77 Lopez and Robert Guzman, individually and as Co-Personal
78 Representatives of the Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased,
79 for the benefit of Ronnie Lopez, Jr., Ashley Lorena Lopez
80 Velasquez, and Steven Robert Guzman, minor children of Ana-Yency
81 Velasquez, as compensation for the death of Ana-Yency Velasquez
82 as a result of the negligence of an employee of Miami-Dade
83 County.
84 Section 3. This award is intended to provide the sole
85 compensation for all present and future claims arising out of
86 the factual situation described in the preamble to this act
87 which resulted in the death of Ana-Yency Velasquez. The total
88 amount paid for attorney’s fees, lobbying fees, costs, and
89 similar expenses relating to this claim may not exceed 25
90 percent of the total amount awarded under section 2.
91 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
