LORENZO H. MORA, APPELLANT,
v.
MAX BAUER MEAT PACKING, INC. AND LIBERTY MUTUAL INS. CO., APPELLEES
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A worker's compensation claimant appealed a deputy's order determining maximum medical improvement dates and permanent partial disability ratings following an industrial injury. The appellate court affirmed the order on most issues but identified harmless error regarding the orthopedic maximum medical improvement date, as the claimant's compensable disability extended through psychiatric recovery until April 10, 1978.
The court affirmed the findings on the permanent disability rating and propriety of benefits paid. The court found no error in the factual basis for the orthopedic recovery finding, but identified patent error in applying the April 1, 1977 orthopedic date when the compensable psychiatric disability extended to April 10, 1978. Any benefits accruing before April 10, 1978 should have been for temporary disability rather than permanent partial disability.
[1] A claimant's psychiatric disability, which is connected to an industrial injury, may extend the date of maximum medical improvement beyond the date of orthopedic maximum…
[2] Benefits accruing prior to the date of maximum medical improvement for a psychiatric disability should be classified as temporary disability, even if orthopedic recovery…
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Any benefits accruing prior to April 10, 1978, should accordingly have been for temporary disability notwithstanding an earlier orthopedic recovery.”
Establishes that the controlling maximum medical improvement date for this case was April 10, 1978 (from psychiatric disability), not the earlier orthopedic date, and explains the error in the deputy's decision.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant suffered an industrial injury on January 18, 1977. The deputy found that appellant reached orthopedic maximum medical improvement on April 1…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant/claimant appeals a worker’s compensation order on a claim for benefits for temporary total disability to February 1, 1978, and permanent partial thereafter. Appellant asserts error only as to determinations that (1) he reached orthopedic maximum medical improvement on April 1,1977; (2) he had a three to four percent permanent orthopedic disability as a result of the industrial injury on January 18, 1977; and (3) all temporary total and permanent partial disability benefits had been timely and properly provided. Upon consideration of the record, we affirm the results reached by the order on the second and third stated issues, and find that any error as to point one appears to be harmless in the circumstances presented.
Insofar as appellant’s argument controverts the factual basis for the finding on claimant’s orthopedic recovery, we find no error.
However, neither party challenges the order’s further specific determination that claimant did not reach maximum medical improvement until April 10, 1978, from psychiatric disability to which his industrial injury contributed in conjunction with intervening noncompensable injuries. Patent error would therefore appear in attributing any effect, in these circumstances, to the stated earlier orthopedic maximum medical improvement date from the same injury to which the psychiatric claim was connected. Corral v. McCrory Corp., 228 So. 2d 900 (Fla.1969); Giffen Industries of Orlando v. Campbell, 8 FCR 157 (Fla.1973), cert. denied 289 So. 2d 734 (Fla.1974).
Any benefits accruing prior to April 10, 1978, should accordingly have been for temporary disability notwithstanding an earlier orthopedic recovery.
The record reflects that temporary total disability benefits were paid until April 1, 1977. There is evidence that claimant’s psychiatric condition during treatment was not such as to affect his regular employment and evidence sufficient to sustain a conclusion that his temporary physical disabilities after April 1, 1977, resulted mainly from noncompensable accidents.
The record therefore reflects no basis for compensable temporary total disability (orthopedic or psychiatric) after April 1, 1977, and appellant has not preserved or presented any issue as to temporary partial disability compensation (even if such could be arguable based on the eventual orthopedic rating). Appellant’s second and third issues on appeal also relate to sufficiency of permanent partial disability benefits. The order does not indicate the method by which permanent benefits already paid (stipulated to be 22% commencing April 1, 1977) would be credited against the compensable three to four percent permanent partial orthopedic disability found by the order, or against the five to ten percent psychiatric disability which the doctor was unable to apportion.
We conclude, however, that those potential issues are foreclosed by appellant’s failure to raise, here or before the deputy, specific questions as to improper credit attributable to error in the date of maximum medical improvement. Cf. Schel v. City of Miami, 193 So. 2d 170 (Fla.1966); Diplomat Hotel v. Badini, IRC Order 2-3494 (August 2, 1978); Tampa Wholesale Company v. Gores, IRC Order 2-3720 (February 26, 1979); and The Boeing Company v. Bailey, IRC Order 2-3869 (July 30, 1979).
The order is accordingly affirmed.
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., SHAW and WENTWORTH, JJ., concur.
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Univ. Inns & Ins. Co. of N. Am. v. Belva Joyce Davis, 413 So. 2d 128 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)…imum medical improvement dates may be determined by the Deputy Commissioner, with the last maximum medical improvement date marking the end of all temporary disability and of the need for remedial treatment. See Mora v. Max Bauer Meat Packing, Inc., 378 So. 2d 119 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). This date is also the beginning of permanent disability. Giffen Industries of Orlando v. Campbell, 8 FCR 157 (August 22, 1978), cert. denied, 289 So. 2d 734 (Fla.1974); Corral v. McCrory Corporation, 228 So. 2d 900 (Fla.1969). H…
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Korody v. Quality Steel & Claims Ctr., 694 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)…d 1049, 1051 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)(empha-sis in original). The fact that the claimant’s work restrictions all stem from his physical injuries rather than his psychiatric condition is not relevant to this issue. In Mora v. Max Bauer Meat Packing, Inc., 378 So. 2d 119 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), the evidence showed that the claimant’s psychiatric condition “was not such as to affect his regular employment ...” Id. at 120. Nonetheless, the court held that it was a “patent error” to award permanent disability benefits dur…
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KEN Lones Landscaping & Middlesex Ins. Co. v. Tucker, 395 So. 2d 272 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)…cessary to reverse unsubstantiated awards of temporary total disability. Monex Corporation v. Mercado, 379 So. 2d 439 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Dade County School Board v. Walker, 379 So. 2d 1026 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Mora v. Max Bauer Meat Packing, Inc., 378 So. 2d 119 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Cling Electric, Inc. v. Jones, 376 So. 2d 481 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). The order here, finding claimant’s testimony of work “a day here and a day there” the basis for eliminating one week out of 68 weeks of temporary total disabili…
Authorities Cited
- Corral v. McCRORY Corp., 228 So. 2d 900 (Fla. 1969)
- Dirk Schel v. City OF Miami, 193 So. 2d 170 (Fla. 1966)
- Giffen Indus. OF Orlando & Emp'rs Ins. of Wausau v. Campbell, 289 So. 2d 734 (Fla. 1974)
- Nile Miller v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., 289 So. 2d 734 (Fla. 1974)