Important Recent Florida Case Law

Wednesday, September 10, 2014 | 0

NEW! Florida Workers Advocates v. State of Florida, 11-13661-CA25, (08/13/2014): Miami trial court judge declared the exclusive remedy provision of Florida's Workers' Compensation Act facially unconstitutional as a matter of law − the latest instance of increasing judicial scrutiny that has worried employers and energized claimant attorneys.

Smith v. City of Daytona Beach Police Department, 1D13-4409, (07/16/2014): A police officer who was hospitalized to undergo repairs to the cardiac pacemaker that had been installed to treat a heart condition which was not compensable could not get benefits for his period of disability from the pacemaker surgery, a Florida appellate court ruled.

Gil v. Cargo Force, 1D13-5423, (07/01/2014): The doctrine of medical noncompliance does not result in the permanent forfeiture of benefits and will only apply during the period a claimant has failed to take reasonable steps to secure medical care, Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal ruled. 

Levy County Sheriff's Office v. Allen, 1D13-5020, (06/30/2014): A deputy sheriff whose personal vehicle collided with a stopped tractor-trailer on a Florida highway while he was heading to work was entitled to benefits for his injuries from this accident, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled.  

Hernando County Sheriff's Office v. Sikalos, 1D13-4866, (06/25/2014): Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that a municipal employer wasn't entitled to reduce its payment of temporary total disability compensation to an injured worker who was getting more in benefits from three different sources than he had earned while working.

F.T.M.I. Operator v. Limith, 1D13-5357, (06/09/2014): A Florida appellate court rejected an employer's petition for review of a nonfinal order denying its motion to dismiss a worker's claim for attorney fees based on the worker's alleged failure to prosecute her claim.  

Holl v. United Parcel Service, 1D13-2745, (06/09/2014): The statutory 401-week limitation period for "temporary benefits" that existed in Florida law in 2002 applies to awards of temporary total disability benefits, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled. 

Brevard County School Board v. Acosta, 1D13-4503, (06/09/2014): A divided 1st District Court of Appeal panel ruled that an employer did not have to pay for a worker's surgery to her left shoulder in the absence of evidence that not having this surgery would hinder her recovery from surgery for a work-related injury to her right shoulder.

Caceres v. Sedano's Supermarkets, 1D13-5653, (06/03/2014): An injured worker has 30 days from either the date of the manifestation of his symptoms from a repetitive trauma injury or the last date of his exposure to the repetitive trauma – regardless of which happened first – to file a claim for his injury and have that claim be timely, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled. 

Trejo-Perez v. Arry's Roofing, 1D13-1889, (06/03/2014): A fractured Florida 1st District Court of Appeal panel concluded that an injured roofer is not entitled to a neuropsychological evaluation by a Spanish-speaking psychiatrist.

Davis v. Nascar Holdings, 1D12-5177, (05/29/2014): The Florida 1st District Court of Appeals has upheld a statute that imposes a cap on benefits for "mental and emotional injuries."

AMS Staff Leasing v. Ocha Engineering Corp., 11-3706, (05/28/2014): An employer did not waive its ability to demand arbitration of a codefendant's arbitration claim against it by filing a motion to dismiss the codefendant's claim during the workers' compensation proceeding for the claim for which the codefendant sought indemnification.

Santizo-Perez v. Genaro's Corp., 1D13-2674, (05/19/2014): A Florida appellate court overturned the denial of death benefits to the surviving family of a grocery store worker who was run over by the jealous boyfriend of one of his coworkers as he was gathering shopping carts in the store parking lot. 

Johns Eastern Co. v. Bellamy, 1D13-3613, (05/14/2014): The 1st District Court of Appeal granted rehearing of a firefighter's claim for benefits and vacated its prior order denying him an award of his attorney fees for the appeal.