Our entire communiity was sickened last year when Brooke Ingoldsby, an 8-year-old student was killed after being dropped off by her school bus driver at a dangerous intersection instead of her usual bus stop. The St. Pete Times is reporting today that Pinellas school officials have formally admitted negligence on the part of the district bus driver. A mediation is being scheduled in the hopes that a protracted lawsuit can be avoided.
The Times article details the terrible facts of this tragedy and outlines the limitations upon compensation that the family can seek.
State law caps liability at $200,000 for school districts and other public agencies. But a district insurance policy would allow the school system to pay the family up to $1-million more, officials said. Any settlement would have to be approved by the School Board. Any award larger than the $1.2-million available at the district level would have to be approved by the Florida Legislature.
If Brooke had been severely injured instead of killed and the govenernmental entity had not carried the $1 Million insurance policy her statutory limits would have been only $100,000. For any sum larger than that she would have had to beg the Florida Legislature to pass a claims bill. Is this fair?
Our entire communiity was sickened last year when Brooke Ingoldsby, an 8-year-old student, was killed after being dropped off by her school bus driver at a dangerous intersection instead of her usual bus stop. The St. Pete Times is reporting today that Pinellas school officials have formally admitted negligence on the part of the district bus driver. A mediation is being scheduled in the hopes that a protracted lawsuit can be avoided.
The Times article details the terrible facts of this tragedy and outlines the limitations upon compensation that the family can seek.
State law caps liability at $200,000 for school districts and other public agencies. But a district insurance policy would allow the school system to pay the family up to $1-million more, officials said. Any settlement would have to be approved by the School Board. Any award larger than the $1.2-million available at the district level would have to be approved by the Florida Legislature.
If Brooke had been severely injured instead of killed and the govenernmental entity had not carried the $1 Million insurance policy her statutory limits would have been only $100,000. For any sum larger than that she would have had to beg the Florida Legislature to pass a claims bill. Is this fair?
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