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Paralyzed teen may get $8.5M from
state
April 24, 2007
By Gary Fineout
TALLAHASSEE -- Nearly 20 years
after she was paralyzed during a botched back surgery, Minouche Noel
and her family may finally get the millions a jury ordered the state
to pay them.
The state House on Tuesday
unanimously approved paying an $8.5 million settlement to Minouche
Noel, 19, and her parents, Jean and Flora Noel. While the
GOP-controlled Senate killed a similar measure last year, Senate
Majority Leader Dan Webster said the time has come to compensate
Noel, as well as several others seeking compensation from the state.
The turning point? The case of
Martin Lee Anderson, the Panama City teenager who died more than a
year ago in a juvenile boot camp run for the state by the Bay County
Sheriff's Department. Senate leaders have pushed ahead with a bill
to pay the Anderson family $5 million, but House leaders have been
more reluctant, saying there are others, including Noel, who need to
have their claims paid at the same time.
''We'll probably do both of them,''
said Webster.
A Broward County jury determined
that Noel was paralyzed in 1989 by a state-contracted doctor when
she was an infant and awarded her and her family $8.5 million. But
under Florida's Constitution, governments have sovereign immunity,
which shields them from major awards for damages. Governments can
pay up to $200,000 for any incident that wrongly harms or kills a
person, but if a court awards more than that, payment of the
additional money must be approved by the Legislature through a
claims bill.
AN ONGOING EFFORT
Past efforts to win money for Noel,
who until recently lived in Fort Lauderdale, have failed, beginning
when a claim was first filed on her behalf in 2001. Senate
Republicans say that too often those who got their claims paid were
those with the highest-paid lobbyists. Last year, the Senate refused
to consider a bill to pay Noel $6 million despite the tearful
pleadings of former Rep. Chris Smith, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat.
Rep. Perry Thurston, a Plantation Democrat who succeeded Smith,
filed the bill again this year.
''She continues to suffer because
of her inability to receive the help she needs,'' said Thurston.
``The first third of Minouche Noel's life has been a living
nightmare.''
House Republicans, recounting how
Noel is forced to crawl around in her own home, agreed with
Thurston.
''This is a child who was
misdiagnosed . . . and suffered the most heinous suffering I have
ever seen,'' said Rep. Charles Dean, an Inverness Republican who
asked fellow Republicans to compensate Noel.
OTHER PENDING CLAIMS
Under the bill approved by the
House, Noel will get $6.5 million, and her parents will receive $2
million. The legislation caps attorney fees at $1 million and any
payments to lobbyists at $85,000.
The House vote came the same day
that the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee
unanimously approved a $5 million settlement with the Anderson
family, ignoring a recommendation from legislative advisors that the
amount be halved. The full Senate could vote on the bill as early as
Friday.
Webster, who said he still believes
the Legislature needs a formal process to determine who should be
compensated by the state, said the Senate may approve as many as
eight claims bills this year.
A House panel today will consider a
bill that would pay $50,000 a year for each year a person was
wrongfully imprisoned by the state.
If passed, Alan Crotzer would
receive $1.2 million. Crotzer, who has a claim pending in the
Legislature, spent 24 years in prison for two rapes that DNA
evidence showed he did not commit.
Miami Herald staff writer Marc
Caputo contributed to this report.
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