Jesse Scheckner
Legislation authorizing a $7.5 million payment to a mother whose three children suffered life-altering injuries when a Florida state trooper caused a gruesome highway crash nearly eight years ago cleared its final Senate committee Monday.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations unanimously approved a bill (SB 80) by Ocala Republican Sen. Dennis Baxley that would finally deliver long-sought funds to Christeia Jones as compensation for injuries she and her sons sustained in May 2014.
The bill’s House analogue by Plant City Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure (HB 6515) has one more committee hearing left.
Baxley and McClure’s bills are classified as “claims bills” or “relief acts.” Such bills are intended to compensate a person or entity for injury or loss caused by the negligence or error of a public officer or agency.
Claims bills arise when appropriate damages exceed what’s allowable under Florida’s sovereign immunity laws, which protect government agencies from costly lawsuits. While legislation has been filed this Session to raise payout caps, state law currently limits what can be paid without legislative action to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.
The amount to be paid to Jones has changed substantially since November 2018, when she and the Florida Highway Patrol reached an agreement for $18 million, the amount both parties concurred a jury could have reasonably awarded her if the case went to trial.
To date, Jones has received $285,000. In January, after more than half a decade of unsuccessfully seeking the balance of her agreement with the state, Jones acquiesced to accept about 40% of the sum she and the state had decided was fair recompense: $7.785 million, $7.5 million plus the initial award.
On the night of May 18, 2014, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Raul Umana, then 20, misjudged a U-turn on Interstate 75 south of Ocala and struck a guardrail before cutting into oncoming traffic.
He crashed into a car Jones, then 28, was driving. Her three sons were in the car with her: D.M., then 7; L.M., then 5; and L.G., who was 2 at the time and secured in a forward-facing infant seat.
After Umana’s vehicle struck Jones’ car, an 18-wheel semi-tractor trailer slammed her car from behind, crushing the trunk and rear seating where the boys sat. Jones’ car flew off the road, struck a tree and caught fire.
The three children were airlifted to University of Florida Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville.
L.G. suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, extensive facial fractures, pulmonary edema and respiratory failure. Today, he continues to receive weekly speech therapy but “struggles with expressive and receptive language … left-side body weakness and behavior difficulties,” the bill said.
Dr. Paul Kornberg, a Tampa-based pediatric medicine and rehabilitation specialist, said the damage to L.G.’s motor, perceptual, communicative, cognitive and behavioral functions are permanent and will prevent him from achieving gainful employment.
The boy also is at high risk of developing seizures in the future, will require medical aid for long-distance mobility by age 30 and is likely to need future surgeries, adult guardianship and attendant care, Kornberg added.
D.M. was diagnosed with severe traumatic brain injury and subcutaneous tissue scalp lacerations that required surgery. He remained hospitalized for two weeks before being transferred to Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital.
Today, he continues to receive occupational, physical and speech therapy. Kornberg gave D.M. a prognosis similar to his younger brother, including that the boy will need long-term adult care.
L.M. was diagnosed with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 7, denoting a severe traumatic brain injury with a high overall mortality rate, as well as head and shoulder injuries that required surgery and a facial laceration that a plastic surgeon repaired prior to his discharge.
Since the accident, the boy has suffered night terrors and changes in behavior and temperament, which Orlando-based neuropsychologist Dr. Patrick Gorman attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder and significant neurocognitive difficulties secondary to traumatic brain injury.
The three children’s medical bills combined have exceeded $520,600, onto which Medicaid asserted $254,522 in liens.
Dr. Michael Shahnasarian, a psychologist and president of Tampa-based rehabilitation practice Career Consultants of America, estimated it will cost Jones $12.5 million to cover the future medical care of L.G. and D.M., who each have lost up to $2.8 million in earning capacity over their lifetimes.
Umana, who received a careless driving ticket for his role in the 2014 crash, remained employed as a Florida Highway Patrol officer as recently as December 2019, when a state investigation cleared him of fault in the vehicular death of a 73-year-old pedestrian in Marion County.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has not responded to inquiries by Florida Politics as to whether Umana still works for the agency. His LinkedIn page lists him as still being a state trooper.
Baxley is the most recent sponsor of a claims bill that would provide Jones and her family compensation beyond the $285,000 the state already paid out.
Democratic Sen. Victor Torres Jr. of Orlando last year filed a bill identical to the one Baxley filed this Legislative Session before he amended it to pay Jones less money. That bill died before reaching a final vote.
The year before, former Republican Sen. David Simmons of Altamonte Springs backed a similar bill that would have paid Jones $9 million. It died in the same committee that approved the $7.5 million payout this week.
