Blog
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Max CR and Possible Marijuana Changes
Greetings, The Dept. of Financial Services released the FL WC maximum compensation rate effective 1/1/21, its $1,011. This is for dates of accident after January 1. Also, a reminder that base PTD benefits plus PTD supplements cannot exceed the max CR for the year that it is paid. Memo attached on the new max CR. […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – FL WC Annual Stats
Greetings, Don’t forget to scour everything you received on Wednesday and over the break for 1-time change requests. Watch out for anything referencing “an alternative” doctor or anything citing 440.13(2)(f). You must respond by 4:59 pm today, Monday, 11/30/20. DOAH has released its annual report, the usual treasure trove of statistics about the FL WC […]
Briefly Speaking – Case Law Updates (11/25/20)
Adriana Santiago v. SBA Communication Corp. JCC Hedler: West Palm Beach District Order date: 11/4/2020 OJCC Case: 20-001834TAH Date of Accident: 11/25/2019 Claimant’s Counsel: Brian Vassallo […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Change of Seasons/Change of Doctors
Greetings, hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week. It’s been a year to remember, but don’t forget to stay on the look-out for 1-time changes. As a reminder, any requests received before 5 pm EST on Wednesday before Thanksgiving (11/25) need to be answered by 5 pm on Monday after Thanksgiving (11/30). Also: “Received” means […]
Briefly Speaking – Case Law Updates (11/13/20)
Bruce Lieske v. Airco Aviation Services, LLC and Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. JCC Owens: Port St. Lucie District Order Date: 10/12/2020 OJCC Case: # 20-008054 Date of Accident: 11/11/2019 Claimant’s Counsel: Richard Robbins E/C Counsel: Scott B. Miller JCC Order: Click Here Briefly: Major Contributing Cause Summary: The claimant sustained a heart attack, […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – PFB Trends
Greetings, hope everyone is doing well. Litigation is slowly starting to increase back to pre-pandemic levels, and so is the flood of PFB’s. Since April, the number of new litigated WC claims in Florida is down 13% compared to 2019. However, since September its only down 7%, so the numbers are increasing. Along with that […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – MCC and Specific Diagnosis
Greetings, the 1st DCA issued a ruling last week clarifying-ish Major Contributing Cause and the 120 day rule in Sanchez v. Yellow Transport, 1D19-4231. The crux of the case was the E/C had authorized treatment over the years for the “lumbar spine”, and had never delineated that they were accepting a lumbar strain or any […]
COVID-19 And The OJCC: Revisited
COVID-19 & THE OJCC REVISITED An update on the pandemic and its ongoing impact in the Florida Workers’ Compensation system. By: Wes Heim – Tampa Just a few months ago we took a look at how the OJCC had been affected by the pandemic (link to my prior article here!). As […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – FL COVID WC Stats
Greetings, the Florida Division of Workers’ Comp just put out a report summarizing the data from the COVID-19 claims through August 31. A link to the full report is below. My colleague We Heim in our Tampa office will be doing a deeper dive in an upcoming article, but here are a few things that […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Discovery Delays
Greetings, One of the impacts of the Coronavirus on litigation is the delay on the ability to do the level of discovery that is really essential in defeating or driving down the value in WC claims. Getting our arms around a claimant’s past medical history, prior accidents, income, preexisting conditions, etc…are key components to our […]