Legislature’s claims bill choices leave some compensated, others empty-handed

The 2026 Session proved somewhat successful for claims bills, a niche but often emotionally charged class of legislation that asks lawmakers to approve payments to people harmed by government negligence when legal limits prevent full compensation.

More than a third of the 14 such measures filed for consideration this year cleared both chambers. In 2025, the success rate was 41%. In the year prior, just 10% reached Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.

Claims bills are a special classification of legislation intended to compensate a person or entity for injury or loss due to the negligence or error of a public officer or agency. They arise when the damages a claimant seeks are above the thresholds set in Florida’s sovereign immunity law, which today caps payouts at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.

Lawmakers passed legislation Thursday by Sen. Jason Brodeur and Rep. Fiona McFarland to increase those caps to $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident.

One trend stands out for this year’s claims bill list: the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is disproportionately targeted.

Four measures sought payments tied to the agency’s alleged failures to protect children despite abuse warnings, with proposed payouts ranging from $3.8 million to $28 million.

Passed

Five claims bills will soon be en route to the Governor.

In one (HB 6515), lawmakers approved a Miami-Dade County payout of $500,000 to Lourdes Latour and her husband Edward for a 2017 incident in which a malfunctioning gate arm at the Gables by the Sea community struck her, causing permanent injuries.

The Latours sued Miami-Dade in 2018, and a jury last year found the county fully liable, awarding the couple more than $4.9 million. Sovereign immunity limitations led the parties to later settle for $800,000 — $300,000 paid immediately, with the remainder pending legislative approval.

The House unanimously passed the measure, sponsored by Sen. Joe Gruters and Rep. Demi Busatta. The Senate did so 37-1, with Sen. Don Gaetz casting the sole “no” vote.

A second, already-finished claims bill (HB 6517) involved a catastrophic injury linked to a police transport. Lawmakers unanimously OK’d the measure by Sen. Darryl Rouson and Rep. Kim Berfield, authorizing a $2.3 million payment from St. Petersburg to Heriberto Sanchez-Mayen.

The payment satisfies the unpaid portion of a $2.5 million settlement stemming from a June 2023 arrest in the city, when Sanchez-Mayen was transported in a police van, fell and suffered a severe cervical spinal injury that left him paralyzed and required the amputation of both legs.

Under sovereign-immunity limits, the city paid $200,000. The claims bill fulfills the rest.

Another passed proposal (HB 6507) involves alleged child-welfare failures by DCF and a proposed $3.8 million payment to a minor identified as L.E. for catastrophic injuries suffered after alleged agency failures.

Rep. Chase Tramont sponsored the bill in the House, while Sen. Alexis Calatayud carried its counterpart (SB 6) in the upper chamber.

The claim arises from 2019, when DCF did not remove L.E. from her home despite warning signs and prior reports involving her parents. She suffered catastrophic injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome, and the parents were later convicted of felony child neglect.

There was also SB 14, a measure by Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez that centered on a Miami-Dade case involving a bus crash and a proposed $4.1 million payout beyond the statutory cap. Rep. Omar Blanco carried the bill’s House companion (HB 6521).

The claimant in the case, Jose Correa, was injured in December 2021 when a county Metrobus struck him, causing lasting physical and emotional harm. Correa sued in July 2022, and the parties reached a March 2024 settlement.

Lastly, there was HB 6509, which aims to remedy harm from a crash attributed to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) negligence. Rep. J.J. Grow sponsored the measure in the House, while Sen. Stan McClain carried its companion (SB 26).

The bill authorizes $2.2 million for the estate of Mark LaGatta, a Levy County man who was catastrophically injured in 2020 when an FDOT employee operating a tractor with a box-blade attachment backed into the opposite lane directly in front of LaGatta’s motorcycle, causing a collision.

LaGatta and his daughter Faith, who was riding with him, both suffered injuries. But he got it worse. He was placed in an induced coma, hospitalized for weeks, underwent seven surgeries and ultimately lost his leg. He died in 2024.

The estate reached a $2.32 million settlement with FDOT: $120,000 has already been paid, and the remaining $2.2 million requires legislative approval.

Died

The rest of the claims docket didn’t advance enough to be viable.

One bill (SB 18, HB 6531) by Sen. Jonathan Martin and Rep. Chip LaMarca made it close to the finish line, but ran out of time. It involved a claim over the wrongful death of a 6-month-old girl identified as M.N., who died from brutal at-home abuse a jury found the Broward County Sheriff’s Office could have prevented.

The measure, which would have authorized roughly $2.6 million to M.N.’s father and grandmother, got held up in the Senate, where a final panel hearing before the Rules Committee never happened. The House version was scheduled for floor consideration in February before being postponed.

There was one for the estate of Danielle Maudsley, a 20-year-old who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a Florida Highway Patrol trooper tased her while she fled from custody in 2011, causing her to fall and strike her head. She remained in a vegetative state until her death in 2013.

The bill would have satisfied the $1.75 million remainder of a $1.95 million state settlement. But while the Senate bill (SB 2) by Sen. Shevrin Jones has sat awaiting its final committee hearing, its House companion (HB 6501) by Rep. Rita Harris went unheard.

DCF-related claims led the “won’t pass” pile in bill counts.

One proposal would have authorized $28 million for L.P., a minor stabbed to death by her mother in June 2015 less than a day after DCF investigated a welfare check and determined there was no imminent danger. The bill (SB 22, HB 6503) by Gruters and Busatta never got a hearing in either chamber.

Neither did a measure (SB 20, HB 6505) by Gruters and Rep. Robbie Brackett seeking $14.9 million for a minor identified as H.H., tied to alleged DCF failures to investigate child-abuse hotline reports before the child suffered catastrophic injuries in July 2017.

Nor did a third DCF-focused claim (SB 4, HB 6529) by Rodriguez and Rep. Taylor Yarkosky seeking $20 million for C.C., a toddler who overdosed on his mother’s methadone in 2016 and suffered permanent brain damage after, the claim alleges, DCF failed to act on repeated abuse reports.

Several non-DCF claims also stalled out.

A repeatedly run Department of Corrections measure seeking $5 million for former Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Maury Hernandez, who was shot and severely injured in August 2007 during a traffic encounter with a parolee who should have been behind bars, never got a hearing.

Rodriguez and Rep. Alex Rizo carried this year’s version of the proposal (SB 10, HB 6511).

Another unheard measure (SB 12, HB 6513) by Sen. Nick DiCeglie and Rep. Kim Berfield sought roughly $16 million plus interest for Maximus Giannikos, who was catastrophically injured in 2019 while crossing U.S. 19 at Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, where the city’s crosswalk system was allegedly inoperable.

One claims bill by Rodriguez and Rep. Dianne Hart-Lowman enjoyed lopsided progress: a measure seeking $627,000 for Patricia Ermini for injuries she sustained when Lee County deputies shot her during a 2012 welfare check at her Fort Myers home. A jury found the Sheriff’s Office 75% at fault.

The House unanimously passed its bill (HB 6527), but the Senate version (SB 8) never moved.

Another bill contemplated a comparatively modest payment — $312,500 — to satisfy a judgment against Lakeland for the police shooting of Reginald Jackson, who was permanently disabled after an officer fired his gun through the man’s windshield.

The Senate bill (SB 28) by Sen. Darryl Rouson advanced through two of three committee stops with uniform support. Its House analogue (HB 6525) by Rep. Gallop Franklin received no attention.