Backlog of Fee Petitions Drives Up Payments to Workers' Attorneys by 26%

Florida claimants’ attorney fees jumped 26% in the 11 months since the state Supreme Court ruled the statutory fee schedule was unconstitutional, but that spike may represent pent-up demand as attorneys held off on filing fee petitions while awaiting the high court’s decision rather than the beginning of a long-term trend. WorkCompCentral analyzed nearly two years of fees awarded to injured workers’ attorneys following a request for electronic records from the Office of Judges of Compensation Claims. Some observers say that that the numbers reflect thousands of settlem...