Important Recent Case Law for Florida

Friday, October 21, 2011 | 0

NEW! Lucas v. ADT Security, Inc., 1D10-2094, (10/17/2011): The Florida 1st District Court of Appeals reversed itself and found that a doctor's testimony that he believed a claimant was faking her symptoms was sufficient to deny the claim.

NEW! Fortner v. Town of Longboat Key and Gallagher Bassett, 1D11-2172, (10/17/11): A firefighter who suffered a degenerative condition in his ankle failed to prove that his activity at work caused the disability.

Morrison Management Specialists v. Pierre, 1D11-0998, (10/12/11): A judge of compensation claims must decide whether an alleged informal agreement between adversarial attorneys provided "good cause" to miss a court-mandated deadline, Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal concluded.

POMTOC v. OWCP, 10-15867, (10/11/2011): An employer failed to prove that it was aware of a claimant's preexisting disability before he suffered a work-related rotator cuff injury.

Sentry Insurance v. Hamlin, 1D11-1041, (9/22/11): An employer is not liable for injuries to a worker who was injured when an impatient repo man drove away with the worker's car as the employee was scrambling to remove his personal belongings, Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal ruled.

West v. Univ. of Miami, 1D10-4658, (09/16/2011): The 1st District Court of Appeal issued a new opinion after rehearing a case with multiple benefits disputes.
Aguilar v. Kohl's Dept. Stores, Inc., 1D11-0767, (08/23/2011): The unique nature of Florida's workers' compensation law means that both a claimant and a payer can be a "prevailing party" during the same proceedings, the 1st District Court of Appeal clarified in a new decision.

Leblanc v. City of West Palm Beach and Johns Eastern Co., 1D10-6321, (08/23/2011): A judge of compensation claims "devalued and eviscerated" a statutory presumption that a firefighter's heart condition was a compensable injury by denying benefits based on medical evidence that the cause of the claimant's condition was unknown, the Florida 1st District Court of Appeals ruled.

Lovering v. Nickerson and the Middlesex Corp., 5D10-575, (08/26/2011): A trucker's negligence suit against a general contractor may proceed because he was not a statutory employee under the Workers' Compensation Act, ruled the 5th District Court of Appeal.

Republic Waste Services v. Ricardo, 1D10-5776, (08/15/2011): Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that in temporary disability claims, claims administrators must prove that they sent injured workers their DWC 19 forms.