Recent Florida Case Law

Friday, September 18, 2015 | 0

NEW! Gutierrez v. The Port Royal Club, 1D15-0002, (09/09/2015): Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal overturned a judge's order compelling an injured worker to attend a psychological evaluation since the parties had not asked the judge for such a ruling.

NEW! Moradiellos v. Community Asphalt Corp., 3D14-566, (09/02/2015): Florida's 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that the “unrelated works” exception to workers' compensation immunity does not apply to a claim by an employee of the contractor against a subcontractor that had secured workers’ compensation insurance for its employees.

NEW! Slora v. Sun 'n Fun Fly-In, 2D14-2745, (08/26/2015): The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that the operator of a Polk County air show was not immune from civil liability to a security guard who suffered injuries when a tornado whisked her off the ground four years ago while she was working at the event.

Vasquez v. Romero, 1D15-0623, ( 08/19/2015 ): The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that a judge of compensation claims cannot exercise jurisdiction over discovery requests issued by a defendant after the claimant had voluntarily dismissed his petition for benefits.

Cruz v. State of Florida Department of Legal Affairs, 1D14-4419, ( 08/19/2015 ):  Florida 's 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that a judge's finding that a worker is entitled to further medical evaluations does not foreclose the judge from finding the worker to be at maximum medical improvement.

Ciprian-Escapa v. City of Orlando , 5D14-2852, ( 07/17/2015 ): A Florida appellate court ruled that a trial judge's failure to conduct an evidentiary hearing on an employer's subrogation claim rendered the default judgment void.

Gonzalez v. Quinco Electrical, 1D14-5395, (07/15/2015): Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal sharply rebuked a claimants' attorney for his "gamesmanship" tactic to prevent a carrier from timely responding to his client's request for a one-time change of physician and ruled that the trial judge properly deemed the carrier's response to have been timely in light of the attorney's behavior.

Sanchez v. American Airlines, 1D14-4907, ( 07/14/2015 ): An employer's payment of a fee award is neither a payment of compensation nor the furnishing of medical treatment, and so it will not extend the filing period for a worker to file a petition for benefits, the Florida 1st District Court of Appeal ruled.

Scherer v. Volusia County Department of Corrections, 1D14-2205, (07/08/2015): The Florida 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that a corrections officer could avail himself of the presumption of industrial causation for a heart condition with an alleged date of disablement that preceded the effective date of a statute that established a time limit for filing a workers' compensation claim.

State of Florida v. Florida Workers’ Advocates et al., 3D14-2062, ( 06/24/2015 ): The Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal dismissed a district court judge's ruling that the state workers' compensation system is unconstitutional, for procedural reasons, failing to address the core arguments of the case.