How you can win a lawsuit and still lose in Florida

Their stories are supposed to be heard by every lawmaker in Florida. They are the broken, the beaten, the abused and the dead.

They are the victims and the families of people who have been damaged, one way or another, due to the mistakes or negligence of some government entity.

This is supposed to be their turn to be compensated. And yet most of them go ignored.

Year after year.

It's sad, it's shameful and it's all part of Florida's absurd process of dealing with lawsuits lost by state and local government agencies.

"It's really a horrendous process,'' said state Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Hollywood, who has been pushing for reform. "It's not set up for justice in any swift or reliable manner.''

The technical term is a claims bill. Essentially, it means that you have won a lawsuit, but before you can collect any judgment above $200,000 against a government agency, you need to ask for the Legislature's approval.

Except there is no rhyme nor reason to that process.

You might have a court order that says you are owed millions of dollars, but you have virtually no chance of being heard in Tallahassee unless you hire a lobbyist. And, even then, the amount you are owed is usually reduced and the lobbyist and lawyers take a cut.

This all stems from the concept known as sovereign immunity, which dates to pre-Revolutionary days. In today's world, it shields the government from large lawsuits.

So if your spouse is run over by a city bus, and the court awards you $3 million, you're only guaranteed $200,000. In order to collect the rest, you must file a claims bill.

And even then your chances of collecting are slim.

Lawmakers basically refuse to look at any claim unless a lobbyist is hired to push it. And if there isn't a lot of publicity about the case, it can sit for years until the victim agrees to a reduced amount.

That's how the family of Jean-Pierre Kamel, a 14-year-old killed in school, could win a $1.6 million judgment against the Palm Beach County School District in 2002, and finally accept a $360,000 settlement 16 years later. That's how Ramiro Companioni, who was awarded $17.8 million in 2004 after an accident with a Tampa water department truck, eventually settled for $5 million this year.

And, remember, lobbyists and lawyers can get as much as 25 percent of a settlement.

The absurdity of the system was highlighted again this week when the Associated Press reported that nearly 40 percent of the claims bills approved the past two years were handled by lobbyists from a firm headed by the brother of House Speaker Richard Corcoran.

I'm not saying this is a simple problem to solve. The Legislature has to look out for a small city or police department that could be bankrupted by a huge lawsuit.

But turning the process over to lobbyists is a joke. The Legislature has special masters and staff who can negotiate settlements. The state could also revamp the way insurance is handled on the municipal level.

The state also needs to prioritize lawsuits involving ongoing care and treatment that could bankrupt families and leave victims institutionalized.

"You really have to have a lack of compassion to hear these stories and not want to step up and help,'' Jenne said. "Meanwhile, a lot of other people are building nice houses off the claims bill formula.''