A Volusia County jury recently awarded a girl a $15 million verdict in a civil case accusing the Florida Department of Children and Families of failing to protect her from the abuse that resulted in her permanent brain damage when she was 21 months old.
The 8-year-old girl’s Fort Lauderdale-based attorneys want an exception to the law that limits claims against Florida government agencies to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.
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“Our fight is to ensure that she will be able to live at home with her family and have the care, dignity, and resources that she deserves for the rest of her life,” Attorney Stacie Schmerling said in a statement on Dec. 12.
During the 2017 investigation by DCF, the girl also lived with her 3-year-old brother, who was “severely handicapped, non-verbal, and had a tracheotomy that required suction” and was “sleeping on a mat on the floor,” according to the lawsuit filed by attorneys with Justice for Kids, a division of Kelley Kronenberg.
Their biological mother and stepfather — who had a history of drug abuse — physically and sexually abused her, according to the lawsuit. Her stepfather had an established “pattern of impulsivity and violence” and her mother had a history of being a victim of abuse herself, records show, according to the lawsuit.
Since DCF is a taxpayer-funded state agency, Schmerling said the claim process after the verdict involves the Florida legislature, the Daily Business Review reported. DCF plans to appeal the December verdict, The Daytona Beach Journal reported a few days later.