Recovery in Florida
Florida caps what the government pays on a state-law claim at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. Those are statutory caps on state-law claims only. Anything above them is paid only if the Legislature passes a claim bill, and the Governor vetoed the 2026 bill that would have raised them. The federal claim under Section 1983 against the officer is not capped and has four years. This page explains the caps, the claim bill, the fee limit, who pays a federal judgment, and every public Florida figure in our ledger, each one another person's case.
In Florida the question is less "what is the case worth" than "which claim pays it." A state-law verdict against a sheriff or a city is collectible up to the statutory caps and no further without an act of the Legislature. A federal judgment against the officer has no cap, and Florida law authorizes the employer to pay it. That is why the federal claim carries a Florida case, and why the pleading matters more here than in New York or New Jersey.
Florida matters are handled through the firm's Aventura office. Mikhail Usher is admitted in Florida. The figures further down are public records of other people's cases; nothing on this site estimates yours.
The caps: $200,000 and $300,000
Florida has waived sovereign immunity for torts on conditions. The main one is a ceiling. Damages against the State and its agencies and subdivisions, which includes cities, counties and sheriffs, are limited to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. The part of a judgment above those figures is payable only by a legislative claim bill. No punitive damages and no prejudgment interest may be awarded against the government (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(5)(a)). Those figures are statutory caps on state-law claims. They are not settlements, not averages, and not a measure of any case.
The claim bill, and what it looks like in practice
A claim bill is an act of the Legislature that orders the excess paid. It is legislation, not a court order, and it has to pass like any other bill. The public record of one case shows what that means.
Dontrell Stephens: the verdict against the amount paid
Dontrell Stephens was shot and paralyzed in 2013. In 2016 a federal jury returned a verdict of about $22.4 million. What was actually paid was $6 million, by the Palm Beach County Sheriff, through a claim bill the Governor signed in June 2020 (WPTV). The first figure is a jury verdict and the second is the payment. Seven years passed between the shooting and the payment, and four between the verdict and the payment. This is a public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction. It is here because it shows the gap between a Florida verdict and what the cap lets a plaintiff collect.
The 2026 veto
The Legislature voted to raise the caps in 2026. HB 145 would have lifted them to $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident for causes of action accruing on or after October 1, 2026. It passed the House 104 to 7 on January 15, 2026 and the Senate 36 to 0 on March 10, 2026. The Governor vetoed it on June 30, 2026 (Florida Senate bill page, HB 145 (2026)). The statutory caps remain $200,000 and $300,000. We will change this page if the Legislature acts again.
The federal claim: no cap, four years
Section 1983 damages against an officer in a personal capacity are not limited by § 768.28. The federal claim pays compensatory damages for a proved injury (Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247 (1978)), nominal damages where a violation is proved and a loss is not (Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, 592 U.S. 279 (2021)), punitive damages against an individual officer whose conduct showed evil motive or reckless or callous indifference to federal rights (Smith v. Wade, 461 U.S. 30 (1983)), never against the municipality (City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, 453 U.S. 247 (1981)), and a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party (42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)). A city or county answers on the federal claim only where its own policy or custom caused the violation (Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978)).
The federal claim has the residual four-year period (Doe v. Swearingen, No. 21-10644 (11th Cir. Oct. 21, 2022), citing Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)) and needs no pre-suit notice (Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988)). The Florida deadlines page explains the statute's 2023 renumbering.
Who pays a federal judgment: § 111.071
A judgment against an officer personally is only as good as the officer's ability to pay it, unless the employer steps in. Florida law lets it. A public entity is authorized to pay judgments against its officers, and in a Section 1983 action payment of the full judgment may be made unless the officer is determined to have caused the harm intentionally. That payment is not limited by the § 768.28 caps (Fla. Stat. § 111.071(1)(a)). The word is "authorized." The statute permits payment; it does not promise it. The who pays page compares the four states.
The officer's personal liability under state law: § 768.28(9)(a)
Under state law the officer is not personally liable in tort for acts within the scope of employment unless the officer "acted in bad faith or with malicious purpose or in a manner exhibiting wanton and willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property." Otherwise the exclusive state-law remedy is against the agency, and the caps apply (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(9)(a)). So the state-law case is pleaded both ways, and the facts decide which defendant remains.
The fee limit: § 768.28(8)
On a state-law claim under § 768.28, attorney's fees are limited to 25 percent (Fla. Stat. § 768.28(8)). That is a statutory limit on the lawyer's fee, and it applies to the state-law claim. It is separate from fee shifting under § 1988, which is an award against the defendants on the federal claim. The liens, taxes and fees page explains how the two fit in a retainer.
What Florida law does not provide
The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 covers employment, housing and public accommodations and is not an analogue of Section 1983 (Fla. Stat. § 760.01). There is no damages action directly under the Florida Constitution for police misconduct against the State, its agencies or employees in their official capacity (Garcia v. Reyes, 697 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)).
Florida figures from public records
We have no verified statewide payout series for Florida and no verified aggregate for Miami-Dade, so none appears here. What follows is every Florida matter in our ledger: the amount, the kind of payment, the payer, the date and the record. Several settlements exceed the statutory caps. One, the Corey Jones settlement, was reported as paid at the city's insurance limit, and a federal claim is not capped at all. The records do not say which claim drove each number, and neither do we.
Family of Corey Jones
A stranded motorist shot by a plainclothes officer in 2015. The officer was convicted.
Source: CBS News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Dontrell Stephens
Shot and paralyzed in 2013. A federal jury returned a verdict of about $22.4 million in 2016. What was actually paid, four years later and by an act of the Legislature, was $6 million.
Source: WPTV. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Seth Adams
An unarmed man shot by a sergeant in 2012. The case settled after a jury deadlocked.
Source: CBS News Miami. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Darren Rainey
A mentally ill man left in a scalding shower at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012.
Source: WLRN. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Robert DuBoise
Imprisoned 37 years on bite-mark evidence.
Source: WUSF. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
The Raymond Herisse shooting
Police fired 116 rounds on Memorial Day 2011. Bystanders who were hit settled with the City for $15,000 to $55,000 each.
Source: NBC Miami. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Family of Scott Whitley III
A jail detainee with schizophrenia was Tasered 27 times. The death was ruled a homicide. The county admitted nothing.
Source: Prison Legal News. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
Police dog bites, Tampa Bay area
A television investigation of agency records also found settlements of $235,500 by the Hillsborough County Sheriff, $100,000 by St. Petersburg and $85,000 by Tampa.
Source: Tampa Bay 28. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
These are other people's cases. What a case is worth depends on the injury, the evidence and the defenses, and the what a case is worth page goes through the factors. The public settlements page has all four states.
The Florida clocks
| Claim | Pre-suit step | Suit due | Ceiling | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section 1983 | None | 4 years from accrual | None by statute | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3); Doe v. Swearingen (11th Cir. 2022) |
| State tort claim against the State, a city, a county or a sheriff | Written claim within 3 years (2 for wrongful death); suit not before 6 months | 4 years | Statutory caps of $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident | Fla. Stat. § 768.28(5)(a), (6), (14) |
| State tort claim against the officer personally | Same notice | 4 years | Only for bad faith, malicious purpose, or wanton and willful disregard | Fla. Stat. § 768.28(9)(a) |
The written claim goes to the agency and, unless the agency is a municipality or a county, to the Department of Financial Services. If a criminal charge from the same incident is pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone; the criminal case and civil case page explains why.
Recovery, all four states
The federal claim against the state claims, and the comparison table for the four states.
Recovery →Florida deadlines
The pre-suit notice, the six-month wait, the statutory caps and the four-year federal period.
Florida clocks →Who pays
§ 111.071 and its counterparts in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Who pays →Common questions
Do Florida's caps apply to a Section 1983 case?
The $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident figures in Fla. Stat. 768.28(5)(a) are statutory caps on state-law tort claims against the State and its agencies and subdivisions. Section 1983 damages against an officer in a personal capacity are not limited by them, and Fla. Stat. 111.071(1)(a), which authorizes a public entity to pay a Section 1983 judgment against its officer, says that payment is not limited by the caps.
What is a claim bill?
A claim bill is an act of the Florida Legislature directing payment of the part of a judgment or settlement that exceeds the statutory caps. Without one, the excess is not payable. In the Dontrell Stephens case a federal jury returned a verdict of about $22.4 million in 2016, and what was actually paid was $6 million, through a claim bill signed in June 2020. That is a public record of another person's case.
Did Florida raise the caps in 2026?
No. HB 145 would have raised the caps to $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident for causes of action accruing on or after October 1, 2026. It passed the House 104 to 7 and the Senate 36 to 0, and the Governor vetoed it on June 30, 2026. The statutory caps remain $200,000 and $300,000.
Is the lawyer's fee limited in Florida?
On a state-law claim under Fla. Stat. 768.28, yes: subsection (8) limits attorney's fees to 25 percent. On the federal claim the contingency fee is set by the written retainer, and a prevailing plaintiff may also ask the court to award a reasonable attorney's fee against the defendants under 42 U.S.C. 1988.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.