Greetings,
DOAH has released their annual report, sharing all of the stats about the FL WC system. Below is the link to the whole report, but do not hit print unless you want 324 pages. The report copvers DOAH’s fiscal year which is 7/1/24-6/30/25.
For more on the report and to hear some great Tips and Tricks, join us this Thursday (12/11) for our 30 minute December Tips of The Month webinar (for knowledge not CEU credits). Reach out to EG@eraclides.com for the link.
Some of the stats that leapt out to me:
- There were 30,428 new litigated cases, a 4% decrease from the prior year , but….
- Overall litigation was only down 2.6% in terms of the number of PFB’s filed, and
- The number of PFB’s closed was only down 2.5%.
So, what that means is even though there were 4% fewer new litigated claims, those and the open older claims are being litigated more. Claimant attorney fees were up 3.5%.
Anecdotally, we often say South Florida litigation is notoriously difficult. Well the stats bear that out as fact.
- In the Miami district, the 5 WC Judges each carry an average of 656 new litigated cases a year, compared to the 1,049 as the state JCC average because each case is simply more active in litigation.
- If you divide the number of PFB’s per new open case, the state average is 2.6 PFB’s filed per case. In Miami it is 3.4 PFB’s per case.
The math justifies your gut feeling about S. Fla, unfortunately.
Here is the link, 324 pages: https://www.jcc.state.fl.us/JCC/publications/reports/2025AnnualReport/OJCC_AnnualReport2024-25.pdf
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Sincerely,
Morgan Indek | Managing Partner