SOUTHLAND CORPORATION AND KEMPER INSURANCE GROUP, APPELLANTS,
v.
RICHARD HUNT, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Southland Corporation and its insurance carrier appealed an award of permanent total disability (PTD) benefits to an employee injured in a workplace fall. The appellate court reversed the PTD award, finding insufficient evidence that the claimant was incapable of performing light work, and remanded for consideration of alternative wage-loss benefits.
The court reversed the PTD award because there was no competent substantial evidence supporting the finding of incapacity to perform light work. The medical evidence did not demonstrate such incapacity, and the claimant's three-month job search was insufficient to establish PTD, particularly given his education and prior work experience.
[1] A finding of permanent total disability requires competent substantial evidence that a claimant is unable to perform even light work due to physical limitations.
[2] A claimant's job search, even if it satisfies wage loss requirements, may not be sufficient to support a finding of permanent total disability without evidence of a lengt…
Previewing 2 of 4 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“there is no competent substantial evidence supporting the deputy commissioner's finding that the claimant was 'not able to do even light work due to physical limitation'”
Establishes the legal standard for PTD and the court's conclusion that it was not met in this case.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRichard Hunt, age 50, was a Southland Corporation employee who administered polygraph examinations. In August 1981, he sustained a compensable injury …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Permanent Total Disability Benefits cases and more on FLexlaw
NIMMONS, Judge.
The employer and carrier appeal an award of compensation benefits based upon a finding of permanent total disability (PTD). Claimant was a Southland Corporation employee who administered polygraph examinations for the employer. In August, 1981, at the age of fifty, he sustained a compensable injury when he fell down in one of the employer’s stores and suffered a herniated cervical disc. We reverse the PTD award on the ground that there is no competent substantial evidence supporting the deputy commissioner’s finding that the claimant was “not able to do even light work due to physical limitation,” the standard required by Section 440.15(l)(b), Florida Statutes.
The medical evidence does not show an incapacity to perform light work.1 Although the claimant’s three-month job search might well satisfy the search requirements for wage loss, such search is a far cry from that which this court found relevant and significant in affirming PTD in H.S. Camp & Sons v. Flynn, 450 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (involving a “lengthy and exhaustive job search, completely unsuccessful throughout the three years since injury in spite of services from three vocational rehabilitation or placement experts”). Contrary to the situation in Flynn, the claimant’s work search, particularly in view of his education and experience,2 did not permit “a conclusion that continued search is futile until changed conditions can be shown.” Id. at 579. See also West Coast Insulation v. Lee, 464 So. 2d 1317 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) (award of PTD affirmed where claimant “had proven himself unemployable by his lengthy, unsuccessful work search” conducted over a period of 15 months).
Accordingly, the order awarding permanent total disability benefits is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings on the claimant’s alternative claim for wage-loss benefits.
Reversed and Remanded.
ERVIN, C.J., and SMITH, J., concur. . The only physical limitation placed on claimant when he was released to work by his neurologist was no heavy lifting.
. Claimant’s education includes high school and two years of business college. He was a city police officer for nine years during which time he took various courses offered by the F.B.I. and Florida Junior College, which he described as affording him the equivalent of one and one-half years of education in criminology. He was a polygraph operator for the police department when he left in 1974 to work for South-land in its security department, primarily to administer polygraph examinations. Prior to his law enforcement career, the claimant worked for Western Electric wiring the tele phones and later worked as an insurance company representative selling group insurance.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Telcon, Inc. v. Williams, 500 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)…employer and carrier are without merit. There is competent, substantial evidence in the record to support the deputy’s finding that claimant was physically incapable of gainful employment and thus excused from a job search. Southland Corp. v. Hunt, 465 So. 2d 1329 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). We [*271] note that two weeks prior to the automobile accident in question, claimant suffered another relapse and was unable to do even light work uninterruptedly. The employer and carrier’s third point, that the deputy erred i…
-
S. Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Williams, 512 So. 2d 243 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…was there any evidence of such severe disability as to excuse a work search. Therefore, it was incumbent upon Williams to show a good faith work search. See H.S. Camp & Sons v. Flynn, 450 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). In Southland Corp. v. Hunt, 465 So. 2d 1329 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985), the medical evidence did not show an incapacity to perform light work, and the claimant’s three- [*246] month job search was held “a far cry from that which this court found relevant and significant in affirming PTD in H.S. Camp…
Authorities Cited
- H.S. Camp & Sons & Am. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Flynn, 450 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
- W. Coast Insulation & Zurich Am. Ins. Co. in care of Atlas Gen. Agency v. LEE, 464 So. 2d 1317 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)