Florida Case Law Update

Thursday, October 23, 2014 | 0

NEW! Panzer Law v. Palm Beach County School District, 1D14-0908, (10/13/2014): The failure of an employer and its insurance carrier to seek dismissal of a petition for benefits on the basis that it had not been accompanied by a written statement from the worker's authorized treating doctor waived its ability to raise this deficiency to contest the worker's entitlement to a fee award for the successful prosecution of the petition.

NEW! Fortune v. Gulf Coast Tree Care, 1D13-5580, (10/13/2014): An employer that undisputedly knew that its employee had been injured on the job was liable for his medical treatment costs, even though the worker had never formally asked his employer to pay for his care, a Florida appellate court ruled.

NEW! Mad Dog Marketing Group v. Department of Financial Services, 1D14-1091, (10/13/2014): A Florida appellate court overturned a $2,000 penalty against an uninsured employer for continuing to operate in violation of the stop-work order.

NEW! Bonner v. Miami Dade Public Schools, 1D14-1200, (10/07/2014): A Florida appellate court ruled that an injured worker does not need to "live a pauper's life" in order to establish her eligibility for an advance of compensation if she has suffered a substantial loss of earning capacity due to her injury.

NEW! Branch v. O'Selmo, 3D13-2613, (10/01/2014): The 3rd District Court of Appeal revived a bank employee’s lawsuit against a coworker for her injuries from a car accident which occurred while the two were on a business trip to Florida.

NEW! VMS v. Alfonso, 3D13-1044, (09/24/2014): A Florida appellate court ruled that a contractor need only ensure that workers’ compensation insurance coverage has been secured for each worker for whom it is the statutory employer to be immune from civil suit if one of its statutory employees gets hurt.

NEW! City of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department v. Battle, 1D14-1040, (09/19/2014): A Florida appellate court ruled that a firefighter who missed work to undergo a diagnostic procedure had suffered a "disability" which was compensable pursuant to the state's statutory presumption of industrial causation for enumerated cardiac problems suffered by first responders.

NEW! Flores-Orellana v. Circle-K, No. 1D14-2055, (09/16/2014): The 1st District Court of Appeal of Florida re-issued its ruling that an injured worker was entitled to a writ of mandamus directing a judge of compensation claims to hold a hearing on her request for modification of her existing award of permanent total disability benefits.

NEW! Moreno v. Palm Beach County School Board, 1D14-1142, (09/11/2014): A Florida appellate court revived a worker's claim for permanent total disability benefits based on an alleged back injury and psyche condition, saying the fact that he had previously filed and dismissed two petitions seeking PTD did not bar him from making this third claim as a matter of law.

NEW! Guerra v. C.A. Lindman, 1D13-5988, (09/10/2014): A Florida appellate court ruled that a judge of compensation claims erred in appointing an expert medical advisor to decide whether a worker needed back surgery when the evidence before him did not contain any disagreement in the opinions of the worker's health care providers over this.