NORTH BROWARD HOSPITAL DISTRICT, D/B/A BROWARD GENERAL MEDICAL CENTER, APPELLANT,
v.
BRENT R. ELDRED, A MINOR, BY AND THROUGH HIS PARENTS AND NEXT FRIENDS, SUSAN E. ELDRED AND RICHARD K. ELDRED, INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLEES
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A hospital district appeals a $900,000 judgment in a medical malpractice case involving a minor. The court affirms the judgment but limits recovery to the statutory cap of $50,000 under Florida's sovereign immunity statute, and certifies to the Florida Supreme Court the question of whether the hospital district qualifies as a state instrumentality.
The court affirms the judgment amount but limits recovery to the statutory maximum of $50,000 under section 768.28(5), Florida Statutes. The court answers affirmatively that the hospital district is a state instrumentality and certifies this question to the Florida Supreme Court as one of great public importance.
[1] A statutory cap on damages against a state instrumentality is applicable to hospital districts created by the legislature.
[2] Upon payment of the statutory maximum damages, a plaintiff's parents and next friends must execute a satisfaction of judgment.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Is North Broward Hospital District, by its operation of the hospitals within said district, a corporation primarily acting as an instrumentality or agency of the state?”
The certified question to the Florida Supreme Court regarding the hospital district's status under sovereign immunity law.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBrent R. Eldred, a minor, obtained a judgment of $900,000 against North Broward Hospital District (operating Broward General Medical Center) in what a…
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GLICKSTEIN, Judge.
This is an appeal from a judgment against appellant in favor of the minor appellee for $900,000. While we affirm the amount of the judgment, we remand with direction that upon payment by appellant to appellee’s parents and next friends of the statutory maximum of $50,000 provided at the time of the 1977 incident by section 768.28(5), Florida Statutes (1975), said parents and next friends shall be required to execute and deliver a satisfaction of judgment to appellant in accordance with City of Lake Worth v. Nicolas, 434 So. 2d 315 (Fla.1983). Upon such satisfaction, appellant may, pursuant to section 768.28(5), report to the Florida Legislature that portion of the judgment which exceeds $50,000. Moreover, we find the answer to the fol lowing question to be “yes,” but certify it to the Supreme Court as a question of great public importance:
Is North Broward Hospital District, by its operation of the hospitals within said district, a corporation primarily acting as an instrumentality or agency of. the state?
We shall not paraphrase all of the arguments raised by the parties upon this issue as they will be fully presented to this state’s highest court. However, we are convinced that if it looks, walks, quacks and swims like a duck, that is what it is. The Supreme Court has not covered all of the descriptive qualities of the species directly; but it surely has alluded to some of them. Most recently, in Michel v. Douglas, 464 So. 2d 545 (Fla.1985), it held that the personnel files of Marion County Hospital District d/b/a Monroe Regional Medical Center were public records; and the opinion, in several places, uses the phrase “public agency” to amplify its holding. Many years ago, it treated the same hospital involved here, Broward General Medical Center, as a public hospital in North Broward Hospital District v. Mizell, 148 So. 2d 1 (Fla.1962).
If the District does not fit within the statutory definition, we really would not know what to call it. It is created by the legislature as a special tax district, authorized by the 1968 Florida Constitution. It levies ad valorem taxes and sets the millage. Its board members are appointed by the Governor. When it has broad legal questions, it seeks answers from the attorney general, who provides them, as he does to all other public agencies.
When Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, in his essay Self-Reliance, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds ...” he was criticizing not all consistency, but only foolish consistency. What could be a greater source of injustice and uncertainty than to hold that some hospital districts are within the statutory definition, and some without, each being decided ad hoc on a case by case basis? By bringing all such districts under the aegis of the statute, the legislature has eliminated that possibility.
Sovereign immunity is, in a democracy, a decision for the people, speaking through their elected legislative representatives. We conclude that, the people having ordained that corporations primarily acting as instrumentalities or agencies of the state shall be judicially liable for damages up to a statutory maximum unless the peoples’ representatives opt to award more legislatively, such social judgment was intended to encompass hospital districts such as appellant.
We find appellant’s remaining arguments to be without merit.
DOWNEY and HERSEY, JJ., concur.
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Mauricio J. DeALMEIDA, M.D. v. Graham, 524 So. 2d 666 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)…court erred when it failed to limit appellee’s damages in accordance with section 768.28, Florida Statutes (1983) and to limit appel-lee’s attorney’s fees in accordance with section 768.28(8). We agree. In North Broward Hospital District v. Eldred, 466 So. 2d 1210 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) we held that section 768.28 applied to the hospital district. The supreme court affirmed our decision in Eldred v. North Broward Hospital District, 498 So. 2d 911 (Fla.1986). Section 768.28 limits North Broward Hospital District’…
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LEE v. S. Broward Hosp. Dist., 473 So. 2d 1322 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)…e waiver of sovereign immunity under Section 768.28, Florida Statutes (Supp. 1980). The trial court held the waiver did apply and we must agree because another panel of this court in the last month ruled in North Broward Hospital District v. Eldred, 466 So. 2d 1210 (Fla.1985), that such hospitals are in fact primarily acting as instrumentalities or agencies of the state and consequently Section 768.28, Florida Statutes (Supp.1980) does apply. Turning next to the second point on appeal concerning notice prior…
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Brown v. N. Broward Hosp. Dist., 521 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988)…,000—has been answered by the Florida Supreme Court’s recent decision in Eldred v. North Broward Hospital District, 498 So. 2d 911 (Fla.1986). There, the supreme court approved the decision of this court in North Broward Hospital District v. Eldred, 466 So. 2d 1210 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) and held, as we did there, that North Broward Hospital District, as a special taxing district, is included in the provisions of section 768.28(2) and is entitled to a limitation on the amount of damages recoverable [*146] pursuan…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- N. Broward Hosp. Dist. v. Von D. Mizell, 148 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1962)
- Dyer Michel & Custodian of Records of the Marion Cnty. Hosp. Dist. v. Douglas, 464 So. 2d 545 (Fla. 1985)
- City OF Lake Worth v. Souheil Aziznakie Nicolas, 434 So. 2d 315 (Fla. 1983)