LUIS ACOSTA, PETITIONER,
v.
KRACO, INC., AND CORPORATE GROUP SERVICES, RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1985-05-09
No. 65214
BOYD, C.J., and OVERTON, MCDONALD and EHRLICH, JJ., concur., SHAW, J., dissents with an opinion, in which ADKINS, J., concurs.
471 So. 2d 24 Florida Supreme Court (1985) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Florida Statutes Section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. against a challenge that it violates the Supremacy Clause by conflicting with the federal Social Security Act. The court held that the state workers' compensation statute's age-based reduction of benefits does not conflict with federal social security provisions and serves legitimate state objectives.


Holding

The Court answered the certified question in the negative, holding that Section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. does not violate the Supremacy Clause. The court found that the valid purposes of the Florida statute—reducing fringe benefits to reflect productivity declines, inducing older workers to retire, and reducing workers' compensation premiums—do not conflict with the purposes underlying the federal social security provision.


Headnotes

[1] A state statute does not violate the Supremacy Clause by conflicting with a federal statute when the state statute's purposes are not in conflict with the federal statute…

[2] A state statute is rationally related to legitimate state objectives, such as reducing fringe benefits to reflect productivity declines associated with age and inducing o…

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Key Quotes

“Does Section 440.15(3)(b)3.d., Florida Statutes (1979) violate the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution because it conflicts with 42 U.S.C. Section 403(f)(3) (1983)?”

The certified question of great public importance that the Supreme Court was asked to answer.

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Facts & Procedural History

Luis Acosta, a workers' compensation claimant, challenged Section 440.15(3)(b)3.d., which reduces wage-loss benefits for workers aged 65 and older. Th…

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Opinion of the Court
ALDERMAN, Justice.

ALDERMAN, Justice.

We review the decision of the First District Court of Appeal in Acosta v. Kraco, Inc., 448 So. 2d 562 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), which certified the following question to be of great public importance:

Does Section 440.15(3)(b)3.d., Florida Statutes (1979) violate the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution because it conflicts with 42 U.S.C. Section 403(f)(3) (1983)?

448 So. 2d at 564. In addition, petitioner has raised other challenges to the constitutionality of section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. We find no merit in these arguments. O’Neil v. Department of Transportation, 468 So. 2d 904 (Fla.1985); Sasso v. Ram Property Management, 452 So. 2d 932 (Fla.), appeal dismissed, — U.S. -, 105 S.Ct. 498, 83 L.Ed.2d 391 (1984). We answer the certified question in the negative and approve the decision of the district court.

Petitioner argues that section 440.-15(3)(b)3.d. operates in contravention of 42 U.S.C. section 403(f)(3)1 and thus violates the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution.

In Sasso, we held that section 440.-15(3)(b)3.d. did not deny access to the courts or unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of age. We approved the district court’s finding that this section was rationally related to the legitimate state objectives of reducing fringe benefits to reflect productivity declines associated with age, inducing older workers to retire thereby allowing younger workers to advance, and reducing workers’ compensation premiums.2 We therefore held that this section did not violate claimant’s right to equal protection under the law. In O’Neil, we further held that section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. was not unconstitutional under the supremacy clause as violative of 29 U.S.C. § 623, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. In the present case, the district court found that the valid purposes of section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. set forth in its Sasso decision did not conflict with the salutary purposes underlying section 403(f)(3) and upheld its constitutionality under the supremacy clause. We agree.

Accordingly, the decision of the district court is approved.

It is so ordered.

BOYD, C.J., and OVERTON, MCDONALD and EHRLICH, JJ., concur. SHAW, J., dissents with an opinion, in which ADKINS, J., concurs.

. Section 403(f)(3) permits social security recipients between the ages of sixty-five and seventy to receive full benefits provided the recipient’s earned income does not reach a maximum level and, also, allows the receipt of partial benefits to the extent earned income exceeds this maximum level. Additionally, recipients over the age of seventy receive full benefits without regard to their income level. 42 U.S.C. § 403(f) (1983).

. Petitioner argues in the present case that the purpose of section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. is to prevent double dipping, whereby a claimant would receive both social security retirement benefits and wage-loss benefits, and therefore conflicts with section 403(f)(3) of the Social Security Act. We held in Sasso that section 440.15(3)(b)3.d. was not rationally related to preventing double dipping since social security retirement benefits do not serve the same purpose as wage-loss benefits, but that it was rationally related to achieving the three remaining objectives.

Dissent
SHAW, Justice,

SHAW, Justice,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent for the reasons set forth in my dissent to O’Neil v. Department of Transportation, 468 So. 2d 904 (Fla.1985).

ADKINS, J., concurs.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Jacobson v. Se. Pers. Leasing, 113 So. 3d 1042 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013)
    …he legislation at issue here include the regulation of attorney’s fees in general, as described in Somaha v. State, 389 So. 2d 639, 640 (Fla.1980); lowering the overall cost of the workers’ compensation system, as described in Acosta v. Kraco, Inc., 471 So. 2d 24 (Fla.1985) (mentioning state interests of “reducing fringe benefits to reflect productivity declines associated with age, ... and reducing workers’ compensation premiums” as well as “preventing] double dipping” into both wage-loss benefits and socia…

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