On a rainy February morning in 2019, Maria Garcia, a 43-year-old single mother of two daughters, was walking to work. She was making her way to one of two jobs she worked to support her family.
She had the walk signal. She had the right of way. She was wearing a bright red jacket and holding a large blue umbrella.
What happened next changed her life forever, and what followed over the next four years became one of the most remarkable personal injury recoveries in Florida history.
The Morning Everything Changed
On February 13, 2019, at approximately 7 a.m., Maria was walking north on U.S. 19 in Pinellas County and approached the intersection at Curlew Road. When the pedestrian signal turned to "walk," she stepped into the crosswalk.
She noticed a Pinellas County school bus behind her in the right-turn lane but wasn't concerned. She had the signal and the legal right of way.
She never made it across.
The school bus struck her from behind. Maria threw her arms up to shield her face, but the right front of the bus hit her squarely, sending her airborne and throwing her onto the pavement.
As the bus turned, its rear wheels rolled directly over her. She ended up lying in the westbound lanes of Curlew Road, just east of the crosswalk while the bus continued toward Countryside High School.
The students in the seats and the bus driver were apparently unaware of what had just occurred. The entire incident was captured on video cameras mounted inside the bus.
When investigators later questioned the driver, she said she had "heard a thump" but assumed she had clipped a curb. She did not stop, did not report the incident, and did not check for a pedestrian.
What investigators also discovered was that the driver had no legitimate reason to be in that area at all. Her assigned route to pick up students did not require her to travel on U.S. 19 to Curlew Road. She had altered her course on her own initiative to avoid making a left turn into the school.
The bus driver was ultimately found guilty of failing to exercise due care causing severe bodily injury. Her license was revoked for three months, and she was fined. Maria's consequences were far more severe.
The Extent of Maria's Injuries
What Maria survived that morning was nothing short of catastrophic. First responders transported her to Bayfront Health's trauma center, where she would spend more than two months. The first of those weeks, she was lying completely immobile in the intensive care unit, unable to sit up or eat, with a tracheotomy in place.
The injuries Maria sustained touched nearly every part of her body:
- Pelvic fractures: Multiple unstable pelvic ring fractures broke her pelvis into several pieces. She also fractured both acetabulum bones, which form the socket joints that hold the femur in place in each hip. Surgeons performed an open reduction and internal fixation procedure, driving two large screws into her sacroiliac joint to stabilize the pelvis.
- Spinal and rib fractures: Maria had multiple lumbar spine fractures and several rib fractures, some of which were comminuted (shattered) or displaced.
- Degloving injury: A large area of skin was stripped from her upper thigh — a horrific wound known as a "degloving" injury. Surgeons harvested skin from her back, hip areas, and right buttock to graft over the wound. Additional grafting was required below her knee, where tissue had also been gouged away and become necrotic.
- Knee ligament damage: Maria sustained posterior cruciate ligament damage, and potentially anterior cruciate ligament damage, in her right knee.
- Internal injuries and organ removal: She suffered internal bleeding and had her spleen removed. Her left lung collapsed. She also fractured her left scapula.
- Nerve damage and loss of hand function: Maria's right arm sustained nerve damage that effectively immobilized it. Since she is right-handed, this left her unable to write, grip objects, or use her fingers with any reliability.
- Traumatic brain injury: Maria suffered a traumatic brain injury, likely stemming from a posttraumatic stroke. She continues to deal with deficits in memory, concentration, executive function, and language skills.
By the time she was discharged from the hospital, Maria had accumulated nearly $2,000,000 in medical bills. Her injuries permanently ended her ability to work, which is something she had done tirelessly her whole life to care for her daughters. Her future medical needs are estimated to exceed an additional $1,400,000.
Today, Maria cannot walk more than the length of a room without a walker or other assistance. Grocery shopping requires a mobility scooter. She has never recovered from her injuries, and she never will. Her daughters have become her primary source of support.
The Legal Obstacle: Sovereign Immunity
When Maria's case came to Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers, the firm faced a legal hurdle that causes many attorneys to walk away entirely: sovereign immunity.
In Florida, when a government agency or one of its employees causes harm through negligence, the state's liability is capped at $200,000 per person, no matter how severe the injury or how egregious the conduct.
There is no room for a jury to hear about two million dollars in medical bills, a lifetime of disability, or a school bus driver who left the scene. The law simply caps the recovery.
Why Many Attorneys Decline Sovereign Immunity Cases
To make these cases even less viable, Florida also limits the attorney's fees that can be collected in sovereign immunity cases to levels so low they create a meaningful financial disincentive.
Many experienced attorneys review these cases and, reluctantly, turn them down. The decision is not because the client doesn't deserve justice, but because the legal structure makes it almost impossible to deliver.
How Government Liability Differs From Typical Car Accident Cases
In a typical Florida motor vehicle accident, an at-fault driver can be held fully accountable for the victim's losses. Insurance coverage, jury verdicts, and civil judgments can reflect the true magnitude of a serious injury.
When the government is at fault, the law shields it in ways that often leave catastrophically injured people with a fraction of what they need to rebuild their lives. There’s also virtually no legal avenue to demand more through the court system.
The Claims Bill Process in Florida
The only path to recovering more than $200,000 from a sovereign immune entity is through a claims bill. This is a piece of legislation that must be passed by both chambers of the Florida Legislature and signed by the Governor.
It is a political and legal process, not a judicial one. It requires lobbyists, committee hearings, legislative sponsors willing to champion an individual's cause, and ultimately the approval of Florida's executive branch.
Why Claims Bills Rarely Succeed
The process is long, expensive, and uncertain. The chance of success, in any given case, is very remote. It almost never happens.
Roman Austin took the case anyway.
The Long Road to Justice
In late December 2019, Roman Austin filed a lawsuit against the Pinellas County School Board on Maria's behalf. The School Board, wanting to avoid a jury trial, agreed to enter a Consent Judgment in the amount of $3,000,000.
That judgment was entered on May 16, 2022. But under Florida's sovereign immunity statute, the judgment meant little on its own. Without a claims bill, Maria could only collect $200,000.
That's when the firm's work took a different form entirely.
Roman Austin retained consultants and lobbyists to navigate the Florida Legislature on Maria's behalf. State Senator Darryl Rouson and State Representative Linda Chaney agreed to sponsor the respective chamber bills: Senate Bill 4 and House Bill 6017.
On January 27, 2023, Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney Mark Roman and his partner, Trial Attorney John Austin, traveled to Tallahassee to present the case before hearing officers in a quasi-judicial setting.
Maria and her daughters were present to testify about how the accident had shattered their lives. The presentation was thorough, the evidence was undeniable, and the hearing officers recommended approval.
From there, the bill moved through the committees of both the House and Senate, where it passed by near-unanimous votes at every stage. Senate Bill 4 was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 9, 2023.
Payment in the full amount of $3,000,000 was made to Maria Garcia. After four years, she finally had justice.
What This Case Means for Injured Floridians
The Maria Garcia case is exceptional in nearly every way. Sovereign immunity cases are notoriously difficult to win, let alone to take all the way through the Legislature. Getting a claims bill passed, especially one requiring a governor's signature, is one of the rarest outcomes in Florida personal injury law.
Most attorneys avoid these cases. The legal fee caps under sovereign immunity make them financially unworkable, and the political process required to exceed the $200,000 cap is long, uncertain, and expensive.
For the attorneys involved, there is no guarantee of outcome, no matter how clear-cut the negligence or how devastating the harm.
Roman Austin took this case knowing all of that. They took it because it was the right thing to do, because Maria and her daughters deserved an advocate, and because someone had to be willing to take the hard road.
That road involved:
- Filing a federal lawsuit
- Negotiating a consent judgment
- Building a legislative strategy
- Hiring lobbyists
- Preparing materials for Tallahassee hearings
- Appearing before the Legislature
- Securing the Governor's signature
For Maria, this outcome means she can begin to address the staggering medical bills she has accumulated, fund the ongoing care she will need for the rest of her life, and regain some measure of financial stability after four years of depending entirely on her daughters.
It does not undo what was done to her. It does not give back the mobility she has lost, the career she can no longer have, or the independence she no longer enjoys. But it is justice, and it is the most anyone could have done for her.
The Importance of Having the Right Legal Representation
This case is a powerful illustration of what it takes to truly fight for an injured client against a government entity and against a legal system that was not designed to make that fight easy.
Maria's case required far more than courtroom skill. It required:
- A deep understanding of Florida's sovereign immunity laws
- The ability to navigate an entirely separate political process at the state capitol
- Building and managing relationships with legislators, lobbyists, and committee staff over the course of months
- Preparing for and delivering a compelling quasi-judicial presentation before hearing officers in Tallahassee, with Maria and her daughters present to tell their story in person
Through all of it, it required an absolute refusal to accept a legally imposed ceiling when the actual harm Maria suffered was fifteen times greater than what that ceiling allowed.
None of this process is typically how personal injury claims work. Furthermore, not every firm has the experience, the resources, or the commitment to take it on.
When Roman Austin agreed to represent Maria, the outcome was far from certain. The $3 million consent judgment had already been entered, but collecting even a dollar above $200,000 required an act of the Florida Legislature.
The firm retained lobbyists at its own risk, navigated the political process with no guarantee of success, and kept fighting for years after a lesser firm might have resolved the case for the statutory cap and moved on.
That is what meaningful advocacy looks like. It is what Maria deserved, and it is what she ultimately received.
If you or someone you love has been seriously injured — whether in a pedestrian accident, a vehicle collision, or any other incident caused by someone else's negligence — you deserve to know your full range of options.
Even cases that seem impossible at first glance can yield full, fair outcomes with the right representation. Even when the government is the defendant.
Maria Garcia's story is proof of that.
Contact Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers
If you've been injured and want to understand your legal options, contact Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers for a free case evaluation. We serve clients throughout the Tampa Bay area, with offices in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Safety Harbor, New Port Richey, and Tampa.
Roman Austin Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers – Clearwater Office 1811 N. Belcher Road, Suite I-1, Clearwater, FL 33765 (727) 787-2500
Free case evaluations are available 24/7.
