Jim Rosica
The Florida Department of Children and Families and private companies it contracts with to oversee the state’s child-welfare system agreed to pay $750,000 to head off any lawsuits resulting from a Gilchrist County man who killed his daughter and his six grandchildren.
Documents dealing with the settlement, one of which appeared hastily hand-written during a mediation conference, were drawn up last month but not released to FloridaPolitics.com until Friday afternoon. The money will go to the legal estates of the victims.
In the paperwork, the department and the private community-based care agencies Devereux and Partnership for Strong Families agreed to pay “the global sum of $750,000 in full and final settlement of all claims of any nature arising out of the events of September 18, 2014, and any days in advance thereof.”
That was when 51-year-old Don Spirit shot and killed his 28-year-old daughter Sarah Spirit and her six children – aged 10 weeks to 11 years old – in rural Bell, a town of about 350.
“I just shot my daughter and all my grandkids … I will be sitting on my steps,” Spirit said in a transcript of the 911 call. “And when you get here, I am going to shoot myself.” Spirit later killed himself with a shot to the head when deputies arrived.
The Spirit family had been written up 18 times by DCF investigators for reported child abuse, according to reports, and the latest abuse-hotline report was sitting on a desk at the time of the murder-suicide.
Moreover, local law enforcement said a University of Florida child protection team had recommended to DCF that there be “no contact” between Don Spirit and the children after a 2013 visit to the home.
In the settlement documents, DCF said it would pay $450,000, the Partnership will pay $250,000 and Devereux will pay $50,000.
The paperwork said DCF’s payment was “subject to sovereign approval,” likely meaning OK’d by the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott.
The legal doctrine of sovereign immunity protects governments from being sued for money damages unless they agree. That blanket protection has been reduced gradually; in 1973, Florida lawmakers decided to allow some suits against the government.
Inez Kuhlmann agreed to the settlement on behalf of the estates of three of the children. She is their great-great-grandmother, according to the children’s obituary.
Christine Jeffers signed on behalf of Sarah Spirit and her three other children. Jeffers is Sarah’s mother, the obituary said.
In return, they agreed not to file any future lawsuits for a variety of claims, including “wrongful death, psychological injuries, pain and suffering, counseling (and) loss of capacity for enjoyment of life.”
They also consented that the settlement was a “compromise of doubtful or disputed claims” and that payment “is not to be construed as an admission of liability.”
All parties agreed to bear their own attorneys fees, though the settlement said Devereux and Partnership for Strong Families could sue each other for legal costs.
“The tragedy that occurred in Bell stunned everyone in our community’s child protection system who works so hard to strengthen families and protect children,” said Jenn Petion, spokeswoman for Partnership for Strong Families.
“We were relieved to resolve the legal case through a settlement agreement so that the family could move forward in the grieving process and so our staff could resolutely focus on ensuring we do all we can to prevent this from ever happening again.”
After a request for comment on the settlement, a DCF spokeswoman referred to Secretary Mike Carroll’s statement after the shooting, including proposed reforms. A representative for Devereux did not immediately comment when reached.
Last session, lawmakers approved and Gov. Rick Scott signed a fine-tuning of a law passed the year before to prevent child deaths.
As Carroll told legislators during a February committee hearing, “Every family you address, every home you walk into, you’re asked to make decisions … and you think you make the right decisions but when you walk out of that home, you never know.”
