By: Ya’Sheaka Williams, Partner, Tampa What is the employer/carrier’s responsibility to an injured worker when an injury causes such disability that their current residence cannot accommodate them? This occurs in cases where the claimant sustains a catastrophic injury such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, or other wheelchair bound injuries. In short, the employer/carrier must provide reasonable and […]
By: Ryan Knight, Associate, Miami It is every adjuster’s worst nightmare, a serious accident followed by the development of an even more serious medical condition. What happens when a claimant is involved in a compensable accident and then suffers a heart attack or stroke? Where is the imaginary compensability line drawn? The first question you […]
Greetings, Soon we could be faced with claimants who, as my grandmother would say, are “taking the pot”. And I have recently been asked by several clients how to deal with “certifications” for usage of medical marijuana (it will be called a certification and not a prescription). As long as the use of marijuana for […]
Greetings, well we are almost 11 months into the post-Castellanos world, and one thing is for certain; there has been an increase in Petitions for Benefits. Compiling the good and the bad of what I have seen over the past few months, here are a few do’s and dont’s in responding to PFB’s. DONT’S […]
Greetings, as part of our Firm’s Briefly Speaking updates, a separate update is done on just the attorney fee awards so we can all track our exposure. For January, for the cases that went to a fee hearing, the dollars awarded were: Hourly rate Total Venue $ 275 $ 6,905 Lakeland $ 150 $ 1,500 […]
Greetings, The 1st DCA again addressed issues with the 1-time change section of the statute (440.13(2)(f) in Zekanovic v. American II, Corp (1D16-3669) last month. In this case, the claimant requested his 1-time change on 12/23, and given the 5 calendar days to respond, the E/C missed the window. The 1st DCA said: “Finally, we […]
By: Ryan M. Knight Contributor: Thomas G. Portuallo To receive daily e-mails with case law summaries, please email esantos@eralcides.com First DCA Opinions Milovan Zekanovic v. American II, Corp., and Gallagher Bassett Services JCC Rosen: St. Petersburg District Opinion Date: February 7, 2017 OJCC Case: 15-014324 Date of Accident: 2/7/14 Claimant’s Counsel: […]
By: Gina Case, Associate, Sarasota As a business, insurance companies seek to provide appropriate benefits while minimizing loss. With this in mind, the goal of any adjuster is to administer claims paying out what is due and weeding out what is not. As with most things in life, however, it is not always clear which […]
By: Ryan Lawson, Associate, Atlanta Over the last few months, I have had the pleasure of handling a few unique cases involving cardiac pathology, including one heart attack case victory in December, and another rather complicated claim involving a cardiac-related death which is still in the discovery phase of litigation. In handling these cases – […]
By: Mike Quiggins, Partner, Tallahassee In our January edition of the Eraclides Gazette, Miami attorney Matthew Colon discussed the influx of claimant requests for one time change of physicians of a different specialty, especially in cases where the 5 day carrier authorization window had lapsed under Florida Statute 440.13(2)(f), the often referred “one time change […]