Articles Posted in Workers' Compensation

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…

As I have blogged here before, beginning with the election in 1998 of Jeb Bush as the governor of Florida, state Republicans have been on a mission to limit and eliminate workers’ rights. An area of particular focus has been the workers’ compensation system — Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes. Some previous blogs: Florida’s…

Pre-Jeb Bush, Florida construction subcontractors were held liable in tort for damages caused by their negligence when the party harmed was an employee of a subcontractor with whom legal vertical privity was not shared. This powerful threat caused subcontractors to pay heightened attention to workplace safety. When subcontractors fell short of being reasonably safe and…

Most Florida employees injured at work will be limited to receiving compensation through the state’s workers’ compensation system as laid out in Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes. The main reason for this limitation is that employers and fellow-employees are immune from being sued for simple negligence. See F.S. 440.11. ‘”[S]imple negligence is that course…

On July 11, 2012, a former client walked into our office and described a February, 2008 work related accident. After being pushed to the ground while trying to break up a hallway fight in a South Florida High School, he was sent by his employer to a workers’ compensation clinic for medical care. His injuries…

This past week our firm settled a workers’ compensation case for $892,000. Included in the settlement package was a Medicare Set Aside. Importantly, while the workers’ compensation carrier had not obtained CMS approval prior to the settlement, the carrier guaranteed that it would cover any CMS required payments above those proposed. (The carrier also agreed…

Florida once treated its injured workers with dignity and respect. This is no longer the case. Current workers’ compensation laws treat injured workers as expendable commodities. Little regard is given to their health and well-being. Rather than being a non-adversarial system for the provision of needed and deserved benefits, as it was originally designed to…

I discuss settlement with our workers’ compensation clients every day of the week. Even people we don’t represent call on a regular basis to pick my brain about settlement. Each case has its own unique set of variables. No blueprint is available to provide answers. Some basic principles do apply in every Florida workers’ compensation…

Because Florida workers’ compensation permanent total disability (PTD) benefits are paid at the rate of 66-2/3% of an injured worker’s average weekly wage (AWW), an employee qualifying for both PTD and Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits may be in line to receive combined payments in excess of his or her AWW. Is this allowed under…