For too long, Florida employers and their workers’ compensation insurance carriers have been able to accuse employees of insurance fraud without consequence if proven wrong. No longer. Until the recent decision in Carrillo v. Case Engineering Inc./Claims Center, (Fla. 1st DCA 2-11-2011), employers and their insurance carriers were free to…
Florida Statute Section 440.09(4)(a) provides that an employee shall not be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if the employee has intentionally or knowingly engaged in any of the acts described in s. 440.15 for the purpose of securing workers’ compensation benefits. Knowingly presenting false ID to obtain employment is an…
Not surprisingly, in Jennifer Kauffman v. Community Inclusions, Inc./Guarantee Insurance Company, filed on March 23, 2011, the Florida First District Court of Appeal issued an opinion finding constitutional a Florida law, Statute 440.34, that is designed to limit the ability of injured workers to obtain workers’ compensation benefits. The Jennifer…
Since the establishment of a workers’ compensation system in Florida more than 80 years ago, business and insurance interests have steadily tried to whittle away workers’ rights with varying degrees of success. The high water mark for them arrived in the late 1990s with the election of Jeb Bush as…
Neither railway workers nor seamen injured on the job are covered by any state workers’ compensation system. However, they are not left unprotected. Both are covered by systems that in many respects surpass anything available under any state workers’ compensation system. Railway workers are covered by the Federal Employees’ Liabilities…
It is common practice to seek PIP benefits for an insured who has paid money out-of-pocket to satisfy a workers’ compensation lien. Is the PIP carrier let off the hook for payments when the workers’ compensation lien is waived? According to the holding in Cannino v. Progressive Insurance Co., Fla:…
In my opinion, the most important Florida workers’ compensation case of all time is Aguilera v. Inservices, Inc., 905 So.2d 84 (Fla., 2005). Aguilera made it clear that workers’ compensation insurance carriers and adjusters are not immune from being sued for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress where…
At the urging of Governor Jeb Bush, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2002 passed a workers’ compensation bill designed to limit carrier-paid attorney’s fees to claimants’ attorneys. The measure was challenged in the courts by claimants (injured workers), who argued that it was unconstitutional (denied access to courts & equal protection)…
A statute of limitation is a provision that ends a person’s or company’s right to sue with regard to a legal dispute. Every legal dispute in Florida is subject to a statute of limitation, with the time period in any particular matter depending on the nature of the dispute. Florida…
Many factors go into determining the settlement value of a Florida workers’ compensation case. Although the opposing parties are seeking different outcomes – the Claimant wants to recover as much as possible, while the Employer/Carrier wishes to settle for as little as possible – each side benefits from performing a…