Comp Judges to Get Long-Awaited Pay Raise if Governor Signs Bill

It took three years and extensive lobbying by the Bar Association, but the Florida Legislature has finally granted the state's workers' compensation judges their first pay raise in more than a decade. Now it's up to the governor to finalize the deal. The secret sauce this year came partly from the fact that lawmakers were not occupied with other workers' comp bills, and the claimants' bar was not spending time fending off cuts to benefits and attorneys' fees, said Richard Chait, a well-known Miami claimants' lawyer who took the lead in this year's lobbying...