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Liability insurance policies issued in Florida that provide coverage for personal injuries contain a per person/per occurrence provision. The provision declares the limits of coverage available under the policy.

The Florida Wrongful Death Act outlines who may be compensated for the wrongful death of a person caused by the intentional act or negligence of a third party. The Act refers to these individuals as “Survivors.” Section 768.18(1) Florida Statutes (2016). (Link to this page to see a “Survivors” chart.)

As the chart shows, there can be multiple Survivors in a single case. How does the per person/per incident provision apply to the situation involving more than one survivor?

In Jones v. Zagrodnik, Dean Jones was killed in a collision with a negligent Roger Zagrodnik. Zagrodnik was insured by Home Insurance under a $100,000 per person/$300,000 per occurrence policy. There were three “Survivors.” The Fifth District Court of Appeal limited their recovery to a total of $100,000, reasoning that their claims were derivative from the deceased and fell under the per person limit of the policy.

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NCCI is the only entity that proposes rate increases/decreases to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). It is a private company that does not owe a fiduciary responsibility to the state’s residents. NCCI does not divulge its methodology or source information, calling it “proprietary.”

In 2016, the workers’ compensation insurance industry sent marching orders to NCCI to make the case for a dramatic increase in premiums charged to business owners. The case was presented to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and resulted in a 14.5% rate hike.

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Stung from being held accountable by the Florida Supreme Court, Associated Industries of Florida (a/k/a Enemy of the People), commanded by Tom Feeney, he of the 2000 Presidential Election coup, is proposing, on behalf of itself and other workers’ compensation insurance companies, to abolish carrier-paid attorney’s fees.

In Castellanos v. Next Door Company, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that workers’ compensation insurance companies that force injured workers to institute legal proceedings to secure benefits may, in some instances, be required to pay the Claimant’s attorney a reasonable fee. The fee is due only when the injured worker successfully secures wrongly denied benefits. The court described carrier-paid fees as a sensible method of motivating insurance companies to follow the law without the need for judicial involvement (See, Judges of Compensation Claims.) In the court’s view, the threat is the proverbial stick Claimants must have at their disposal to get carriers to comply with the state’s workers’ compensation laws. The ruling was not issued in a vacuum. A long historical record shows that it works.

Which is why it is opposed by Associated Industries. AI abhors the idea of workers being able to compete for benefits on a level playing field. Its legislative proposal looks to slant the field back in its favor — the Castellanos justices spoke at length about leveling the playing field.

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This article — Frightened by Donald Trump? You don’t know the half of it — published in theguardian.com, paints a dire picture of what awaits the human race under a Trump Presidency. Civil trial lawyers are all too familiar with the insidious threat discussed in the article.

For more than 30 years, trial lawyers have been the target of these Masters of Misinformation. The Masters have systematically misinformed the public into believing that trial lawyers are the reason for the rising cost of insurance and medical care. One of the bellwether terms used in the misinformation campaign is “frivolous lawsuits.”

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Complaining now about the 2016 presidential election outcome based on the popular vote vs the Electoral College results is nonsense. It’s like a football team that was outscored arguing that it should be declared the winner because it controlled the clock and gained more yards than the other team. Them ain’t the rules.

For example, just this past Saturday my Florida Gators beat the LSU Tigers by the score of 16-10, even though LSU won the time of possession and yards gained statistics. I’ll take the W over the statistical victory.

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To receive wage loss benefits following an accident, injured workers must demonstrate a connection between the wage loss and their injuries. Wyeth/Pharma Field Sales v. Toscano, 40 So. 3d 795 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010). The most common way of accomplishing this is through medical testimony. Many people believe that it is the only way. It’s not.

Florida’s workers’ compensation system provides for two types of pre-maximum medical improvement indemnity compensation benefits, temporary partial (TP; section 440.15(4) Florida Statutes) and temporary total (TT; 440.15(2)). TP is for employees able to work with restrictions, TT is for employees unable to work.

The workers’ compensation insurance companies get to pick the doctors. Many of these doctors tend to favor the insurance companies in their opinions. One way they help is by limiting restrictions or assigning none at all.

Form DWC-25 is a form completed by the workers’ compensation doctors. Sections 21-23 address work restrictions. Workers’ compensation insurance companies typically refuse to pay indemnity benefits to injured employees who refuse or quit a job that is available within the DWC-25 restrictions.

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The key component of every statute of limitations is the triggering event which starts the running of the SOL clock. In Florida workers’ compensation cases, the event is “the date on which the employee knew or should have known that the injury or death arose out of work performed in the course and scope of employment.” Section 440.19(1) Florida Statutes. The SOL is two years from this event. (Chapter 95 of the Florida’s statutes addresses the statute of limitations applicable in other types of cases.)

While most workplace injuries arise from acute traumatic events, like falling from a scaffold, some develop over a spread of time from the cumulative effects of repetitive physical labor. A representative example of this is demonstrated by one of our recent cases involving a UPS driver who developed a bad back from lifting and moving boxes for sixteen years.

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Our firm has written exhaustively on topics related to Florida’s workers’ compensation system. One of the recurring themes has been the steady loss of rights those in the workplace have experienced over the past 20 years or so. Here is a link to a superb law review article which addresses the subject. It was written in 2015 by Viktorya Johnson, J.D. Candidate, Stetson University College of Law, 2016.

FLORIDA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ACT: THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL EROSION OF THE QUID PRO QUO

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Republicans have held the reins of power in Florida since 1999. Unashamedly, they have abused that power to crush the rights of individuals in favor of Big Business.

One of the areas which has experienced the greatest abuse is the state’s workers’ compensation system. Mercifully, thanks to the Florida Supreme Court the pendulum is beginning to swing in favor of fairness and decency. On April 28, 2016, in Castellanos v. Next Door Company, et al., the court found § 440.34, Florida Statutes unconstitutional. This statute had barred claimants’ attorneys from receiving reasonable attorney’s fees. Literally. The effect of the statute was that Claimants were as helpless as turtles on their backs. By finding this ridiculous law unconstitutional, Castellanos has become the single most important case in the annals of Florida workers’ compensation cases.

The positive momentum continues. Today, in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, et al. , the Supreme Court found another outrageous Republican statute, section 440.15(2), Florida Statutes (2009), unconstitutional.