FLORIDA WELDING & ERECTION SERVICE AND U. S. FIDELITY & GUARANTY COMPANY, APPELLANTS,
v.
JERALD MARTIN, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed workers' compensation award of temporary total disability benefits beyond July 18, 1980, physician evaluation order, and attorney's fees, finding insufficient evidence of non-maximum medical improvement and procedural error in awarding evaluation without prior notice.
Temporary total disability benefits after July 18, 1980 must be reversed because the deputy's finding that claimant had not reached maximum medical improvement by that date lacked competent substantial evidence.
[1] Attorney's fees under Florida workers' compensation law require that the employer/carrier deny that an injury occurred for which compensation benefits are payable; mere r…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceClaimant suffered an industrial accident on February 15, 1980 and sought temporary total disability benefits continuing beyond July 18, 1980, along wi…
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PER CURIAM.
This cause is before us on appeal by the employer/carrier from a workers’ compensation order awarding temporary total disability benefits from the date of the accident and continuing, evaluation and treatment “if necessary” by an additional physician, and reserving jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees. We reverse the award of temporary total disability benefits subsequent to July 18, 1980, as the deputy’s finding that claimant had not reached maximum medical improvement by that date from his February 15, 1980 industrial accident was not supported by competent substantial evidence. See Ardmore Farms, Inc. v. Squires, 395 So. 2d 268 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); Sunland Training Center v. Hicks, IRC Order 2-3443 (1978), cert. denied, 368 So. 2d 1368 (Fla.1979). The deputy also erred in awarding an evaluation and treatment “if necessary” by Dr. DeWitt Stanford after ruling orally at the hearing that claimant’s motion for such evaluation would not be heard because of the lack of prior notice to the employer/carrier. G & S Packing Company v. Driggers, 382 So. 2d 446, 447 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). Finally, the finding that claimant’s attorney was entitled to a reasonable fee must also be reversed, as the employer/carrier did not “den[y] that an injury occurred for which compensation benefits are payable,” and there is no other basis for such an award in this case. Section 440.34(2)(c), Florida Statutes (1979).
REVERSED.
BOOTH, WENTWORTH and WIGGIN-TON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Arnold Lumber Co. & R.P. Hewitt & Assocs. v. Verner E. Harris, 503 So. 2d 925 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…d that such a catastrophic loss had occurred for which compensation benefits were payable but did admit a com-pensable injury had occurred and claimant prevailed in obtaining catastrophic loss benefits). Florida Welding & Erection Service v. Martin, 417 So. 2d 1166 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), relied upon by the employer/carrier, is distinguishable. Although the opinion is unclear, the briefs in that case1 reveal that the employer/carrier had paid temporary total disability benefits for a period. Therefore this court…
Authorities Cited
- Ardmore Farms, Inc. v. Squires, 395 So. 2d 268 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
- G & S Packing Co. & Fla. Farm Bureau Ins. Co. v. Driggers, 382 So. 2d 446 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)