Disability Law

E/C Owes Attorney's Fee Where Claimant Successfully Prosecuted Claim and More Than 30 Days Elapsed After Receipt of Petition

By David A. McCranie, Esq.

In Franco v. SCI at the Palmer Club at Pestancia, decided on 8/27/2008, the First District reversed the JCC's order which had denied attorney's fees to the claimant's attorney at the expense of the employer/carrier.  The court noted that the petition for benefits was accepted when payment was made, not when the forms indicating acceptance of the claimant's permanent total disability status were completed.  Because the E/C failed accept or deny the petition within 14 days of its receipt, they were deemed to have denied the petition.  And, because they failed to make payment of the benefits within 30 days of the date they received the petition, entitlement to an award of attorney's fees attached.  The court also distinguished its previous decision in Zabik v. Palm Beach County School District, 901 So.2d 887 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005), noting that Zabik was decided under the pre-2003 version of the statute.  Under the 2003 version of the statute with its statutory percentages, whether the claimant "employed more than minimal effort to procure benefits for the claimant" is irrelevant.

Full post as published by Florida Workers’ Compensation Law Blog on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).