Greetings,

As you may have heard, the Division of Admin Hearings (DOAH) just confirmed some long-rumored closures of 4 physical Judge of Compensation offices, Lakeland, Sebastian/Melbourne, Gainesville and Port. St. Lucie venues.  The Judge in Lakeland, Judge Arthur will be headquartered in Tampa and the Judge in Gainesville, Judge Stanton, will be headquartered in Jacksonville. The other two venues had Judicial vacancies. The mediators will also transfer.  

Also, State mediations will be allowed permanently to be held on Zoom at the mediator’s discretion.  Either party can request a live mediation instead of Zoom.  And parties may be allowed to call in, on camera will not be required.  This ought to be fun, anyone want to predict how many times a week I will have to say to a claimant “you are on mute!”.

Here is a link to the DOAH announcement and Judge Langham’s statement:

http://flojcc.blogspot.com/2022/03/consolidation-mediation-and-renumeration.html

And here is the actual consolidation of offices notice and below which JCC offices will be handling which counties:

https://regulatoryworkcomp.blogspot.com/2022/03/consolidation-plans.html

1. Gainesville (GNS) – Consolidated (see Districts TLH, JAX and ORL) 

             Alachua and Columbia Counties to JAX; Marion County to ORL; Dixie, Gilchrist, and Levy Counties to TLH.

2. Lakeland (LKL) – Consolidated (see Districts TPA, SAR)

             Hardee and Highlands Counties to SAR; Polk County to TPA.

3. Melbourne (MEL) – Consolidated (see Districts WPB, DAY) 

             Brevard County to DAY; Indian River and Okeechobee Counties to WPB.

4. Port St. Lucie (PSL) – Consolidated (see Districts WPB). 

             Monroe County to MIA; Martin and St. Lucie Counties to WPB.

Sincerely,

Morgan Indek | Managing Partner