Greetings, What do you do when a claimant moves away from a light duty job and the Employer does not have any light duty work in the geographic area of the claimant’s new residence? At first glance, it feels like that is a voluntary limitation of income, and you could deny Temporary Partial Disability. Well…maybe…maybe […]
Greetings, The world of claimant attorney fees can be somewhat confusing, so I thought I would go over the types of fees under the law. There are attorney fees that are paid by the Employer/Carrier, and those that are paid by the claimant to their attorney (sort of anyway). Settlements are typically worded as inclusive […]
Greetings, How do you handle a claimant who refuses or is fired from light duty, if the light duty offered did not pay 80% of their AWW? For example, the employer can only offer 20 hours a week light duty, and the carrier is paying some TPD based on the 80%/80% TPD formula, but then […]
Greetings, We are still in a bit of no man’s land on definitive answers regarding the use of Medical Marijuana and the intoxication defense in Florida. (The 1st DCA has upheld the law that WC does not need to pay for Medical Marijuana.) Gustafson’s Dairy v. Phillips, 656 So.2d 1386(Fla.1st DCA 1995). The claimant’s arm […]
Greetings, In the 2015 Jennings v. Habana case (link below), the 1st DCA established that prevailing party costs are separate and distinct from claimant’s attorney fees. The DCA opined that if the Employer/Carrier provides any benefits after a Petition for Benefits is filed, the claimant “prevailed”. The court felt this was the case even if […]
Greetings, I have a received a few questions about the impact Florida Senate Bill 1718 will have on Florida WC. The new law imposes stricter penalties on those who smuggle unauthorized aliens, etc…but a few provisions will have an indirect effect on WC. Taken from the Florida Senate’s summary of the new law (link below), […]
Greetings, If any of you have attended our firm’s CEU’s or webinars over the years, you have likely heard us explain the Florida WC Statute of Limitations as “2 years from the date of accident or 1 year from the last provision of a benefit, whichever is later.” And that is how the courts and […]
Greetings, last week the 1st DCA issued a ruling regarding the 120-day rule and the necessity of sending the “120-day letter” in the link below is the case of Churchill v. DBI Services (1D21-3199). The “initial provision of compensation or benefits” starts a Carrier’s 14- day clock to “pay, pay and investigate, or deny” and […]
Greetings, Although the Florida Legislative session ended May 5th, HB 487 was signed into law at the end of last week (5/25/23). There are two parts of the bill that deal directly with Florida Workers’ Compensation, but no drastic changes. Well the new statute removes the word “shall” and replaces it with “may”. This means […]
Greetings, In the last week I received a few questions about how far is too far for a claimant to travel for medical treatment. A big thank you to Ryan Knight of our Miami office for helping with the caselaw below on this one. (if you need anything in Miami-Ft/ Lauderdale, Ryan is fantastic: rknight@eraclides.com) […]