Greetings, Central Florida is the “lightning capital” of the US, and we have to deal with workplace injuries due to lightning strikes. Attached is a 1946 case, Ft. Pierce Growers Ass_n v. Storey_ 158 Fla. 192, where the majority found that a lightning strike that injured a worker who was working outside arose out of his […]
Greetings, I have a had a few questions about claimant’s missing appointments and medical non-compliance. First, we can not charge a claimant for the no-show fees for authorized treatment. However, for an IME we can charge ½ of the no-show fee if we gave the claimant timely notice of the appointment, and the claimant did […]
Greetings, I’m putting the finishing touches on a new CEU entitled “Poof! Ta da! Top 10 Claimant attorney tricks for 2019”. Basically a list of the things that have burned us, and I thought I’d share one. (And on a lighter note, if you need a laugh, here is a link to our firm’s promotional […]
Greetings, A few of you have asked for a handout or summary of my talk with Dr. Frohwein at the WCI convention on Medical Marijuana, so I thought I would pass on a few takeaways. (If you’d like the doctor and I to come present this CEU at your office, please let me know). 30 […]
Greetings, Many claimant attorneys continue to fight us over the distance claimant’s have to travel for appointments. See below for my past tip on the state of the law on distance. My partner in Tampa, Ya’Sheaka Campbell just won a JCC case on this issue. The distance was 45 miles but the travel time was […]
Greetings, As our workforce ages in Florida, we will continue to see an increase in PTD claims. (Here’s a link to two great studies on the workforce aging and population in Florida). http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/presentations/population-demographics/DemographicTrends_11-6-13.pdf https://datausa.io/profile/geo/florida/#intro I often get questions about some of the terms and nuances of PTD. Here are a few terms/issues I see most […]
Greetings, I probably get 2-3 questions a day from clients to help them make a determination on whether an accident or injury c an be denied or if it is compensable. (Keep those questions coming!) In laymen’s terms, an accident is the event, the injury is the result. We often use the terms interchangeably as […]
Greetings, this tip is on everyone’s favorite topic, math. For the first few weeks of a claim, it can be difficult to obtain the correct information regarding the AWW and post-accident earnings to pay benefits correctly. This can create hodge-podge of underpaid weeks and overpaid weeks once the info is received. Per the statute, any […]
Greetings, an issue has come up recently on two of my files where the adjuster settled the file with a claimant directly pro se. The issue is whether the settlement covers “any and all claims”. In one, the claimant alleged he did not think he was settling his other claim. In the other file, […]
Greetings, A JCC just ruled that the E/C took too long after selecting a 1-time change doctor to “provide” the doctor, and thus the claimant was allowed to select their own physician. This is a JCC level decision, and not an appellate decision, but other judges could follow the rationale. (the link to the case […]