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Two Accidents = 208 Weeks of Temporary Disability Entitlement

By David A. McCranie, Esq.

pa href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statuteamp;Search_String=amp;URL=Ch0440/SEC15.HTMamp;Title=-gt;2008-gt;Ch0440-gt;Section%2015#0440.15"Section 440.15(2)(a)/a limits temporary compensation benefits to a maximum of 104 weeks.nbsp;So what if there are emtwo/em on-the-job accidents which emconcurrently/em produce periods of temporary disability?nbsp; Is the claimant limited to a maximum of 104 weeks in compensation for both accidents?nbsp; No, said the First District Court of Appeal in a href="http://opinions.1dca.org/written/opinions2008/12-16-08/07-6297.pdf"emAuman v. Leverock's Seafood House/em/a, decided on 12/16/2008./p pnbsp;/p pThe claimant injured her knee on 10/17/2004 and her right arm and elbow ten days later on 10/27/2004.nbsp; Accident #2 was found to be disabling, and accordingly the E/C paid temporary total disability benefits from 10/28/2004 through 10/27/2006, a total of 104 weeks.nbsp; But on 1/12/2005, the claimant had seennbsp;a doctor for her knee injury (accident #1) who opined that the claimant needed surgery and that she should not return to work until the surgery was performed./p pnbsp;/p pIn his December 2007 order, the JCC ordered the E/SA to authorize the surgery, but he awarded temporary total disability benefits for that condition only for the period from 10/26/2006 (the date benefits were exhausted for accident #2) through 1/11/2007 (the date marking the end of the 104-week period commencing on 1/12/2005) for a total of 11 weeks.nbsp; The JCC reasoned that because the claimant had already been compensated for accident #2 for the period from 1/12/2005 through 10/26/2006 (a period of 93 weeks), she had only 11 weeks (104 - 93) of entitlement to temporary compensation remaining./p pnbsp;/p pThe First DCA reversed, reasoning that sect;440.02(13) defines disability asnbsp;quot;incapacitynbsp;because of emthe injury/emquot; to earn wages.nbsp; Therefore, the claimant has a quot;bankquot;nbsp;of 104 weeks of temporary disability benefits for her first accident./pimg src="http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/FloridaWorkersCompensationLawBlog/~4/487831723" height="1" width="1"/

Full post as published by Florida Workers’ Compensation Law Blog on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).