Dontrell Stephens: the verdict was $22.4 million. The check was $6 million.
A Palm Beach County deputy shot Dontrell Stephens in 2013 and left him paralyzed. In 2016 a federal jury awarded him about $22.4 million. What he actually received was $6 million, through a legislative claim bill signed in June 2020. The difference is what Florida's damages cap does to a case.
A public record, not a client of this firm. Everything on this page comes from the court file, the government announcement or the reporting cited at the end. Usher Law Group did not represent anyone in this matter, we publish no results of our own, and nothing here predicts the outcome of any other case.
In 2013 a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy shot Dontrell Stephens. He survived, paralyzed. In 2016 a federal jury heard the case and awarded him about $22.4 million.
Then nothing happened for four years. The verdict was a number on paper. In Florida, the path from a verdict against a government to a payment runs through Tallahassee: a legislative claim bill, passed by both houses and signed by the Governor. Mr. Stephens's bill was signed in June 2020. It authorized $6 million, from the Palm Beach County Sheriff.
So the public record contains two numbers, and the space between them is the most honest picture of the Florida damages cap that exists. A jury of ordinary people, having heard the evidence, said $22.4 million. The Legislature said $6 million. The person who was shot waited seven years for the second number.
We do not know from the record why the bill settled at $6 million, and we do not guess. What we know is the mechanism, and the mechanism is the point of this story.
What the law calls it
The claim was excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, judged by objective reasonableness (Graham v. Connor), with deadly force permitted only where the officer has probable cause to believe the person poses a significant threat (Tennessee v. Garner). The jury decided that question and set the damages.
Florida's sovereign immunity statute, Fla. Stat. 768.28, then governs what a state or local government pays on a state-law claim: $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, no punitive damages, no prejudgment interest, and any excess "payable only by a legislative claim bill." The federal claim under Section 1983 is not capped by the statute. A 2026 bill to raise the caps to $350,000 and $500,000 passed the House 104 to 7 and the Senate 36 to 0, and was vetoed on June 30, 2026. The caps are unchanged.
What it cost
Dontrell Stephens
Shot and paralyzed in 2013. The public record shows the gap between a jury verdict and what the Florida process let him collect.
Source: WPTV. A public record of someone else's case, not a result of this firm and not a prediction.
What it means for you
If you were seriously injured by police in Florida, the value of your case is not only what a jury might award but what can actually be collected, and those are different questions here more than anywhere else we practice. The federal claim is uncapped. The state claim is capped at $200,000, with the rest depending on a claim bill. Our Florida recovery page sets out both, and who pays explains the difference between a judgment and a check.
The deadlines also differ. The state claim needs a written claim to the agency within three years, and the agency's silence for six months counts as a denial; the federal claim has four years. Our Florida page lists each clock, and the deadline tool counts them from your date.
The pages this story points to
What Florida pays
The caps, the claim bill, the 2026 veto, and the uncapped federal claim.
Read →Who actually pays
Indemnification, insurance, and why a verdict is not a check.
Read →Florida
The three-year written claim, the six-month silence rule, and the four-year federal clock.
Read →Sources. WPTV, "Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Dontrell Stephens bill" (June 2020); Fla. Stat. 768.28(5) (flsenate.gov); Florida HB 145 (2026) bill history and veto of June 30, 2026 (flsenate.gov); Doe v. Swearingen (11th Cir. 2022) on the four-year federal period.
Common questions
What is a legislative claim bill?
In Florida, a government pays at most $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident on a state-law claim (Fla. Stat. 768.28(5)). Anything more can be paid only if the Legislature passes, and the Governor signs, a bill authorizing it. The claimant has to persuade lawmakers, and the amount in the bill is whatever the Legislature decides.
Does the cap apply to the federal claim?
No. The cap in 768.28 governs state-law claims. The federal claim under Section 1983 has no statutory cap. Mr. Stephens's verdict came from a federal jury; the public record shows that what was paid came through the claim bill process, and it does not explain the negotiations in between.
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.