SPECIAL DISABILITY TRUST FUND, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
FIRST NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY AND IOWA NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1984-02-09
No. AU-216
WENTWORTH, J., and McCORD, GUYTE, P., Jr., (Ret.), Associate Judge, concur.
444 So. 2d 1147 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1984) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

The Special Disability Trust Fund appealed the denial of its reimbursement claim for temporary total disability and medical benefits paid to an injured worker. The court reversed, holding that the claim was barred by a sixty-day filing deadline that ran from the date the employer/carrier first voluntarily paid wage-loss benefits.


Holding

The claim for reimbursement of TTD and medical benefits is barred by the sixty-day filing deadline. The deadline began on January 5, 1982, the date of first voluntary payment of wage-loss benefits (defined as excess compensation), and no claim was filed within sixty days. Only wage-loss benefits paid after November 7, 1982 were properly reimbursable.


Headnotes

[1] A claim for reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund is barred if not filed within sixty days of the first voluntary payment of excess compensation.

[2] Wage-loss benefits constitute "excess permanent compensation" for the purpose of determining the filing deadline for reimbursement claims from the Special Disability Trus…

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Key Quotes

“Section 440.49(2)(g), Florida Statutes (1981), bars any right to reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund unless the claim is filed prior to sixty days from the date of the first payment of excess compensation if such payment is made by the E/C without an award.”

Establishes the controlling statute and the sixty-day filing deadline that triggered the bar to reimbursement

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Facts & Procedural History

Hall suffered a compensable work injury on April 9, 1981. The employer and carrier provided medical care and temporary total disability benefits until…

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Opinion of the Court
MILLS, Judge.

MILLS, Judge.

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether a claim for reimbursement of temporary total disability (TTD) and medical benefits is barred by Section 440.49(2)(g), Florida Statutes (1981).

Hall, the claimant, suffered a compensable injury on 9 April 1981 that entitled the employer and carrier (E/C) to file for reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund under Section 440.49, Florida Statutes (1981). The E/C provided appropriate medical care and temporary total compensation until 4 January 1982, the date of maximum medical improvement. Commencing on 5 January 1982, the E/C began payment of wage-loss benefits.

On 7 January 1983, the E/C filed a claim against the Special Disability Trust Fund for reimbursement of all benefits paid to the claimant. The deputy commissioner awarded reimbursement of all TTD and medical benefits paid and of all wage-loss benefits paid after 7 November 1982.

Section 440.49(2)(g), Florida Statutes (1981), bars any right to reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund unless the claim is filed prior to sixty days from the date of the first payment of excess compensation if such payment is made by the E/C without an award. Special Disability Trust Fund v. Jimmy Hart Masonry, 424 So. 2d 884 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). In Section 440.49(2)(b)3, Florida Statutes (1981), “excess permanent compensation” is defined as “that compensation for permanent impairment, wage-loss benefits, or permanent total disability or death benefits for which the employer or carrier is otherwise entitled to reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund.”

Thus, the sixty-day period in the instant case began to run on 5 January 1982, the date of the first voluntary payment of wage-loss benefits. No claim having been filed within sixty days of this date, the right to reimbursement for TTD and medical benefits paid in this case is barred. The only benefits properly held reimbursable were the wage-loss benefits paid after 7 November 1982. Special Disability Trust Fund v. Sunshine Jr. Stores, Inc., 417 So. 2d 1170 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).

REVERSED.

WENTWORTH, J., and McCORD, GUYTE, P., Jr., (Ret.), Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …Masonry, 424 So. 2d 884, 886 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). Consequently, the judge erred in ordering the Fund to reimburse temporary disability, medical benefits and wage-loss benefits. See Special Disability Trust Fund v. First National Insurance Company, 444 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). He therefore also erred when he deemed previously paid wage-loss benefits to be temporary total disability benefits and ordered the Fund to reimburse accordingly. As the Fund concedes, the only benefits which should be ordered r…
  • Fla. State Hosp. v. Special Disability Tr. Fund, 445 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
    …PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. Special Disability Trust Fund, et al. v. First National Ins. Co., et al., 444 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). MILLS, WENTWORTH and BAR-FIELD, JJ., concur.…

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