Disability Law

AIG Escapes Liability for WC Insurance Fraud - For Now

Posted on August 24, 2009
A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that NCCI has no standing to sue AIG for its alleged under-reporting of workers' compensation insurance premiums.  But, said the judge, he isn't ruling out the possibility of a class action lawsuit against AIG by individual insurers...

Date of 'Last Injurious Exposure' Governs Which Carrier Pays for Occupational Disease

Posted on August 21, 2009
Cases involving an "occupational disease" often present thorny issues of compensability and insurance coverage.  Fidelity and Guar. Ins. Co. v. Polk County, Case No.2D08-3377, decided by the Second DCA on August 14, illustrates the point well...

NCCI Announces 6.8% Rate Reduction Request

Posted on August 20, 2009
The National Council on Compensation Insurance has recommended a 6.8% reduction in the average premium charged to Florida employers for workers' compensation insurance.  The reduction would become effective on January 1, 2010.  If approved by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, the reduction would bring to 63...

Federal Minimum Wage Increase Set for Today

Posted on July 24, 2009
As mandated by the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, the federal minimum wage increases today from $6.55 and hour to $7.25 an hour.  So at least for the moment, the federal minimum wage is higher than the current Florida minimum wage of $7.21 an hour...

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Crist Signs WC Attorney's Fee Bill

Posted on May 29, 2009
Governor Crist has signed CS/HB 903.  The Orlando Sentinel has the story here.   The bill takes effect on July 1, 2009.  I have never known an amendment to  §440.34 to be given retroactive effect.  Thus, the amendment almost certainly will not apply to existing claims, but only to accidents which occur on or after July 1...

Differing Views on Possible Veto of WC Attorney's Fee Bill

Posted on May 18, 2009
In this letter reprinted in the May 18 edition of the Palm Beach Post, Bill Herrle, the Florida executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business, urges Governor Crist to sign CS/HB 903.  Mr. Herrle rejects as "unfounded" any fears that the bill will make it more difficult for injured workers to obtain representation in workers' compensation cases...

WC Attorney's Fee Bill Presented to Governor

Posted on May 17, 2009
The clock is now ticking on any decision by Governor Crist to veto CS/HB 903.  The legislature adjourned its session on May 8 and presented the bill to the governor on May 15.  Thus, under Art. III, §8(a), Fla. Const., he must veto it within 15 days of the latter date, or by May 30, or it automatically becomes law...

St. Pete Times to Gov. Crist: Veto WC Attorney's Fee Bill

Posted on May 11, 2009
In this column, Howard Troxler of the St. Pete Times has recommended that Gov. Crist veto several bills from the just-concluded legislative session, including CS/HB 903.

Governor Crist Noncommittal on WC Attorney's Fee Bill

Posted on May 08, 2009
Gov. Crist visited the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce last night and, according to "The Buzz," the political blog of the St. Pete Times, had this exchange with the president of the chamber: 'We'd really like to see you support House bill 903,' Bob Clifford, president of the Clearwater chamber, told Crist, who was accompanied by his wife, Carole...

U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Immigrant Employee's Sentence For Use of False Identification

Posted on May 05, 2009
This is a little off-topic, but yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue of an employee's use of a fake social security number in obtaining employment in this country .  See Flores-Figueroa v. U.S., decided on 5/4/2009...

Senate Recedes; Adopts House Version of WC Attorney's Fee Bill

Posted on May 02, 2009
I said in yesterday's post that unless there was some dramatic movement on the last day of the legislative session, the workers' compensation attorney's fee bills were dead.  Well, there was some dramatic movement. In the final hours of the session, the Senate receded from CS/CS/SB 2072 and adopted C/S HB 903 by a vote of 22-16, with two members not voting...

Senate Passes "Murray Compromise" Bill; House Refuses to Concur

Posted on May 01, 2009
By a vote of 39-0, the Senate yesterday passed CS/CS/SB 2072, the so-called "Murray Compromise" bill.  But on motion by Rep. Anitere Flores (R-Miami), the original sponsor of CS/HB 903, the House refused to concur.  The bill is now "in messages" with a request by the House for the Senate to recede...

Immigration Status and Drugs Pose Problems for Paralyzed Worker

Posted on April 27, 2009
The problem of illegal immigration continues to spill over into the area of workers' compensation law.  Take the tragic case of Victor Leon.  Victor is an illegal immigrant who, while working for Altec Roofing on a construction project in Palm City, fell off the roof of a three-story building...

Palm Beach Post Endorses "Murray Compromise" Bill

Posted on April 23, 2009
The editorial board of the Palm Beach Post has endorsed CS/CS/SB 2072 - the so-called "Murray compromise" bill.  Click here to read.

Committee on General Government Appropriations Adds Additional Amendments to CS/SB 2072

Posted on April 22, 2009
CS/CS/SB 2072 has now been voted favorably out of the Senate Committee on General Government Appropriations by a vote of 5-0.  In addition to the changes to the original bill which I discussed in my April 18 post, the new committee substitute exempts from the restrictions of §440...

Committee Substitute for SB 2072 Posted

Posted on April 18, 2009
The Senate Judiciary Committee's substitute for SB 2072 - CS/SB 2072 - has now been posted online by the legislature.  As amended, the bill would: Amend §440.20(11)(c) to exempt from the restrictions imposed by §440.34(1) the amount of claimant-paid attorney's fees paid as part of a lump-sum settlement...

Amended SB 2072 Passes Senate Judiciary Committee

Posted on April 16, 2009
By a margin of 8-1, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted favorably on SB 2072 yesterday, but with  substantial amendments which had been offered by the trial bar.  One amendment to the bill (549680) provides that the fee payable under this subsection may be increased up to the fee paid by the employer or carrier to the employer's or carrier's attorneys if it is determined that the employer or carrier engaged in a bad faith denial of benefits, unreasonably delayed furnishing benefits that were due and owing, or unreasonably continued or increased the expense of litigation...

SB 2072 Set For Committee Hearing on April 15

Posted on April 08, 2009
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider SB 2072 its meeting on April 15.  Still pending before the committee are two proposed amendments to the bill (690702 and 906380) which were filed on March 31.   The General Government Appropriations Committee is also set to consider the bill, but there's no word yet on when that will happen.

Attorney's Fee Bill Passes House; Postponed in Senate

Posted on April 02, 2009
CS/HB 903 passed in the Florida House of Representatives on March 31 by a vote of 84-35.   Several days earlier, the House rejected an amendment to the bill which would have (1) repealed §440.105(3)(c) which makes it unlawful for a claimant's attorney to receive a fee which has not been approved by the judge of compensation claims, (2) amended §440...

Chairman: SB 2072 Will Come Up for a Vote

Posted on April 02, 2009
The News Service of Florida reports that Sen. Lee Constantine (R- Altamonte Springs), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has vowed that SB 2072 will come up for a vote in his committee despite yesterday's postponement.  "We are not going to have a filibuster on this thing," said the chairman...

Companion Attorney's Fee Bills Move Forward in House and Senate

Posted on March 25, 2009
SB 2072, which is identical to CS/HB 903, passed the Senate Insurance and Banking Committee on March 25 by a vote of 6-3.  It now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration. An amendment to the bill proposed by Sen. Al Lawson (D-Tallahassee), the Senate Minority Leader, was defeated...

Senate Bill on Attorney's Fees Moves Forward; Palm Beach Post Criticizes

Posted on March 23, 2009
SB 2072, which is identical to CS/HB 903, has now been placed on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee's agenda for Wednesday, March 25.   Meanwhile, the Palm Beach Post editorialized against these bills in its Sunday edition.

Committee Substitute for HB 903 Goes to the House Floor

Posted on March 19, 2009
The Committee Substitute for HB 903 - CS/HB 903 - is out.  The revised bill: (1) deletes the detailed legislative findings of fact contained in the original bill;  and (2) requires that claimant's attorney's fees be "equal to" the various percentages of benefits secured set out in the statute instead of, as in the original bill, allowing the fees to be "less than or equal to" those percentages...

WC Insurance Rates Likely to Increase - But Not Just Because of Attorney's Fees

Posted on March 19, 2009
Driving the furor over pending legislative attempts to limit the amount of claimant's attorney's fees are concerns over the effects those fees will have on the premiums charged to employers to obtain workers' compensation insurance coverage...

HB 903 Moves Forward With Committe Substitute; Governor Signals Approval

Posted on March 18, 2009
HB 903, with a committee substitute, was passed by the House General Government Policy Council on March 17 by a vote of 14-4.  The committee substitute means that there will be some changes to the original bill, but as of this post, the revised bill is not yet available on the legislature's website...

HB 903 Moves Forward With Committee Substitute; Governor Signals Approval

Posted on March 18, 2009
HB 903, with a committee substitute, was passed by the House General Government Policy Council on March 17 by a vote of 14-4.  The committee substitute means that there will be some changes to the original bill, but as of this post, the revised bill is not yet available on the legislature's website...

HB 903 Passes Out of Committee; SB 2280 Referred to Committees

Posted on March 13, 2009
HB 903 was passed out of the House Insurance, Business & Financial Affairs Policy Committee by a vote of 19-2.  Meanwhile, SB 2280 was referred to the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Committee on General Government Appropriations, and the Senate Rules Committee...

HB 903 Goes to General Government Policy Council

Posted on March 13, 2009
HB 903 has been forwarded to the House General Government Policy Council, which will consider the bill on Tuesday, March 17.

HB 903 Passed but Retained by House Committee

Posted on March 11, 2009
HB 903 has been retained by the House Insurance, Business & Financial Affairs Policy Committee.  According to a representative of the committee that I spoke with this morning, the bill was passed by a vote of 19-2 yesterday, but a motion to retain the bill was heard and approved...

HB 903 on House Committee Agenda

Posted on March 08, 2009
HB 903, which would repeal the requirement that carrier-paid claimant's attorney's fees be "reasonable" and would require instead that they be "less than or equal to" a percentage of benefits secured by the attorney for his client, will be considered by the House Insurance, Business, and Financial Affairs Policy Committee on Tuesday, March 10...

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