{"id":143050,"date":"2026-02-04T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/143050\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T07:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:00:21","slug":"500k-claims-bill-for-woman-struck-by-miami-dade-gate-arm-set-for-senate-house-floor-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/143050\/","title":{"rendered":"$500K claims bill for woman struck by Miami-Dade gate arm set for Senate, House floor votes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2017 Lourdes Latour suffered permanent nerve damage when a security gate in Miami-Dade struck her. This year, she may finally receive payment the county agreed to give her for the pain and suffering she\u2019s endured.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Twin bills (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2026\/24\/?Tab=BillHistory\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">SB 24<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flhouse.gov\/Sections\/Bills\/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=82899&amp;SessionId=113\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">HB 6515<\/a>) are poised for floor votes in the Senate and House after clearing their last committee hurdles this week on unanimous votes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If approved, they\u2019ll clear $500,000 to Latour and her husband, Edward, that\u2019s been blocked by Florida law since they won a verdict last year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">SB 24 and HB 6515 are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/PublishedContent\/ADMINISTRATIVEPUBLICATIONS\/leg-claim-manual.pdf\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">claims bills<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Claims bills arise when the damages a claimant seeks are above the thresholds set in Florida\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.leg.state.fl.us\/statutes\/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&amp;URL=0700-0799\/0768\/Sections\/0768.28.html\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">sovereign immunity<\/a>\u00a0law, which today caps payouts at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Last month, \u00a0the House\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/774121-house-approves-fiona-mcfarlands-proposal-to-raise-sovereign-immunity-caps\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">voted 104-7 to increase<\/a> the caps to $500,000 and $1 million, respectively, with a 20% increase in 2031.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Nov. 5, 2017, Latour was struck and thrown from her bicycle by a malfunctioning gate arm while exiting the Gables by the Sea community. She and her husband sued Miami-Dade in 2018, claiming the county was negligent in owning, operating and maintaining the gate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A jury found Miami-Dade 100% liable in January 2025, awarding the couple\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cvn.com\/florida-jury-hands-down-5m-verdict-against-miami-dade-county-at-trial-over-cyclist-injured-by-gate\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">more than $4.9 million<\/a>\u00a0in damages for long-term pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment, loss of companionship and service.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Because of Florida\u2019s liability limits for government entities, the parties ultimately settled for $800,000, with $300,000 paid directly by the county under Florida\u2019s restrictive law and $500,000 contingent on approval of a claims bill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters and Coral Gables Republican Rep. Demi Busatta are sponsoring the SB 24 and HB 6515, respectively.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Doral Republican Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, who is co-sponsoring SB 24, presented the bill in committee Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2017 Lourdes Latour suffered permanent nerve damage when a security gate in Miami-Dade struck her. This year,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15646,69391,69392,69393,69394,123,125,124,1064,373,69395],"class_list":{"0":"post-143050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-ana-maria-rodriguez","9":"tag-edward-latour","10":"tag-gables-by-the-sea","11":"tag-hb-6515","12":"tag-lourdes-latour","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-headlines","15":"tag-miami-news","16":"tag-miami-dade","17":"tag-miami-dade-county","18":"tag-sb-24"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}