Articles Posted in Workers' Compensation

Maximizing the client’s net recovery should be a primary focus in every case. Court costs, litigation and medical expenses, and insurance liens are elements often charged against the gross recovery. One of the insurance liens is a creature of Florida Statute 440.39(2). This lien comes into play when a person injured in the course and…

Some of Florida’s most severely injured workers may qualify for Permanent Total Disability (PTD) benefits under Section 440.15(1) Florida Statutes. In the absence of a catastrophic injury such as a spinal cord injury involving severe paralysis, amputation of an arm, a hand, a foot, or a leg, severe brain or closed-head injury, or total or…

Our firm has been hired by a woman who recently sustained a serious leg injury while walking back to her car from a company sponsored holiday party. The employer has refused to provide workers’ compensation benefits, claiming that the accident did not happen in the course and scope of employment. While our firm handles both…

Injured workers who qualify for workers’ compensation permanent total disability benefits (PTD) under Florida Statue 440.15(1), receive 66-2/3% of their average weekly wage (AWW) payable biweekly. Such injured workers may also qualify for Social Security Disability (SSD) monetary benefits payable monthly. The sum of the two benefits may exceed 100% of an injured worker’s AWW.…

A Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) recently denied our firm a stipulated carrier-paid attorney’s fee under the so-called medical-only section of Florida Statute 440.34. The judge rejected the stipulation because a claim for Permanent Total Disability (440.15(1)) was pending when we filed a claim for psychiatric care. The judge misread the statute. 440.34(3)(a) provides as…

Since at least 2002, when Jeb Bush and a super-majority of Republicans passed legislation eliminating important workers’ rights, Florida’s workers’ compensation system has been unfair and unbalanced. One circuit court judge has declared it unconstitutional — Florida’s Workers’ Compensation System Unconstitutional, So Says 11th Circuit Court Judge Jorge Cueto. The time is approaching when the…

In 1935, Florida first enacted a workers’ compensation system for the state’s employers and employees. The idea was to provide a greater degree of fairness and certainty for each. The primary advantage for employers was the immunity from most personal injury lawsuits, making it easier to anticipate expenses, while employees would receive benefits without first…

Injured workers have experienced a steady erosion of their rights under Florida’s workers’ compensation system since its inception in 1935. Some periods have seen greater losses than others. None, however, were as ugly as the Jeb Bush years, when he served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, along with a Republican-controlled…

While it’s bad enough that the employer/carrier (“E/C”) get to hand pick the injured worker’s treating doctors, Section 440.13(9)(c) Florida Statutes (2013) gives them a free shot at defeating opinions they oppose. My recent experience demonstrates the point. In pertinent part, Section 440.13(9)(c) provides: If there is disagreement in the opinions of the health care…

Florida employees injured at work may be able to bring a valid claim for damages against a third party. For purposes of this blog, a third party means an entity, including an individual, other than the employer or other entity entitled to workers’ compensation immunity. A third party case may exist if the work related…