JAMAR SPORTSWEAR, INC. AND HARTFORD INSURANCE GROUP, APPELLANTS,
v.
MARTIN MILLER, APPELLEE
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In this workers' compensation appeal, the court affirmed the compensability of a claimant's heart attack suffered while lifting heavy material at work, but reversed the award of permanent partial disability because it was not calculated using the required AMA Guides, and reversed the deputy's excusal of the physicians' failure to comply with injury reporting requirements.
The court held that the claimant's heart attack is compensable because he established all essential elements through competent substantial evidence. However, the award of permanent partial disability was improper because it was not based on the required AMA Guides. The deputy commissioner also erred in excusing the reporting requirement noncompliance because the 'wall of ignorance' principle does not apply to statutory reporting duties.
[1] A compensable heart attack can be established by evidence of an identifiable strain to which the claimant was unaccustomed, and medical testimony causally relating the he…
[2] An award for permanent partial disability must be based on the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, as required by statute.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Claimant established by competent substantial evidence all of the elements essential to a compensable heart attack.”
Affirms compensability of the workplace heart attack injury.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceClaimant went to work alone on June 23, 1979, to cut sample patterns at an apparel factory. While pulling a heavy bolt of material from a bin, he felt…
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PER CURIAM.
The employer/carrier raises three points on appeal. We affirm on the first point and reverse as to the second two. •
Claimant’s evidence showed that he went to work alone on Saturday, June 23, 1979, to cut some sample patterns. As he pulled a heavy bolt of material out from the bin, he felt a twinge in his chest which became increasingly severe. He testified that he was unaccustomed to lifting such heavy rolls of material, as he normally delegated such heavy labor to others. The pain subsided briefly and then returned even more severely while he was cutting the material. He stopped work immediately and drove to his nearby residence where someone was available to drive him to the hospital. His attending physician diagnosed an acute myocardial infarction. On August 31, 1979, while relaxing in the Florida Keys, claimant suffered another heart attack. His treating physician on that occasion determined that the second attack was an extension of the first. His physician testified that claimant suffered 50% physical impairment as a result of the two attacks.
The carrier argues that the original attack is not compensable. We disagree. Claimant established by competent substantial evidence all of the elements essential to a compensable heart attack. Claimant testified that he was engaged in an identifiable strain to which he was unaccustomed, and his attending physician’s testimony was that his heart attack was causally related to the physical strain. Victor Wine & Liquor, Inc. v. Beasley, 141 So. 2d 581 (Fla.1962).
The second point raised by the carrier is whether the deputy commissioner erred in awarding compensation for a 50% permanent partial disability which was not based on the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment as required by section 440.15(3)(a)(3), Florida Statutes (1979). We agree that the deputy’s ruling on this point was error. The order shows that the award was based on physical impairment alone, not loss of wage earning capacity. Section 440.15(3)(a)(3) requires that the Guides be used to determine the percentage of physical impairment. Once a diagnosis is made, the applicable table must be used, and it may not be combined with any other table or subjective factor to produce a rating in excess of that permitted. Decor Painting v. Rohn, 401 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981).
The carrier’s third point concerns the deputy’s excusal of the noncompliance of the physicians and hospitals involved with the reporting requirements of section 440.13, Florida Statutes (1979). We also reverse on this point. The statute requires that doctors and hospitals submit a report of injury and treatment to the carrier within ten days of first treating a workers’ compensation patient. The deputy excused the reporting requirements because of his determination that the carrier had set up a “wall of ignorance.” The deputy’s excusal is for the wrong reason, because the wall of ignorance principle is inapplicable to the reporting requirements of section 440.13. The deputy has failed to make the requisite finding of good cause to support the excu-sal.
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED to the deputy commissioner for the purpose of having claimant’s doctor relate his disability rating to the AMA Guides, and for the deputy’s determination of whether there is good cause to excuse the reporting requirements.
MILLS, LARRY G. SMITH and SHAW, JJ., concur.
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Trindade v. Abbey Road Beef 'N Booze, 443 So. 2d 1007 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)…llowing and any related questions: 1. Should the court recede from Mathis v. Kelly Construction Co., 417 So. 2d 740 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982) and similar decisions? 2. If so, what effect if any would that action have on Jamar Sportswear, Inc. v. Miller, 413 So. 2d 811 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), Morrison & Knudsen/American Bridge Division v. Scott, 423 So. 2d 463 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), and Decor Painting, et al. v. Rohn, 401 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)? 3. What is the effect, in terms of possible exclusivity and irreb…
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Peck v. Palm Beach Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs, 442 So. 2d 1050 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)…of permanent impairment to the AMA Guides, as provided by Section 440.-15(3)(a)3, is consistent with the court’s opinions in Decor Painting & Iowa Mutual Insurance Co. v. Rohn, 401 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) and Jamar Sportswear, Inc. v. Miller, 413 So. 2d 811 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). Section 440.15(3)(a)3 mandates the Division of Workers’ Compensation of the Department of Labor and Employment Security to “establish and use a schedule for determining the existence and degree of permanent impairment based upon…
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Morrison & Knudsen/American Bridge Div. & CNA Ins. Grp. v. Scott, 423 So. 2d 463 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)…c tables for assessing impairment are set out in the Guides, “the applicable table must be used, and it may not be combined with any other table or subjective factor to produce a rating in excess of that permitted.” Jamar Sportswear, Inc. v. Miller, 413 So. 2d 811, 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). Because the Guides were not properly applied in this case, we reverse the Deputy’s Order and remand for the purpose of having claimant’s doctor relate his disability rating to the Guides. Cf. Jamar at 813. We do not addre…
Authorities Cited
- Victor Wine & Liquor, Inc. v. Beasley, 141 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 1961)
- Mack v. State, 401 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981)
- Decor Painting & Iowa Mut. Ins. Co. v. Rohn, 401 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)