OXFORD BUILDING SERVICE AND LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO., APPELLANTS,
v.
JAMES ALLEN, APPELLEE
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Oxford Building Service and Liberty Mutual Insurance appealed an award of wage-loss benefits to James Allen, an injured worker who was later laid off due to the employer's loss of a contract. The court affirmed, holding that a layoff for economic reasons does not automatically break the causal connection between an industrial injury and subsequent wage loss when the worker demonstrates an unsuccessful good-faith job search.
Being laid off for economic reasons does not automatically negate the causal connection between an industrial injury and wage loss. When a claimant produces competent substantial evidence of an unsuccessful, good-faith work search sufficiently extensive and intensive, the causal relationship between the industrial injury and subsequent wage loss can be established as a matter of fact.
[1] A claimant's wage-loss benefits are not automatically negated by a layoff due to economic conditions unrelated to the industrial accident.
[2] The causal connection between an industrial injury and subsequent wage-loss is a question of fact to be determined from the totality of the circumstances.
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“being laid-off from employment for economic reasons does not automatically negate such a connection. This court has held only that evidence of being laid off for economic reasons without more is insufficient to establish causation.”
Establishes the key legal principle that economic layoffs do not automatically break the causal chain between injury and wage loss
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAllen, employed as a janitor by Oxford Building Service, dislocated his shoulder in a work-related accident that eventually required surgery and left …
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MILLS, Judge.
Oxford Building Service and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (E/C) appeal from an order of the deputy commissioner awarding Allen wage-loss benefits for the months of August through November 1985. We affirm.
Allen dislocated his shoulder while employed by the E/C as a janitor. The injury eventually required surgery, and Allen was left with a permanent disability. He returned to work with the E/C, albeit in a lighter-duty capacity than before, but was terminated when the E/C lost the cleaning contract for the building where Allen worked. The D/C awarded wage-loss benefits, finding that Allen had made a good-faith work search. The E/C does not challenge that finding, but argues that, because Allen was terminated from his employment because of the E/C’s loss of its contract, any wage-loss is due to economic conditions and not Allen’s disability.
The E/C apparently maintains that the required causal connection between Allen’s wage-loss and his industrial accident was broken by the fact that he was able to return to work until laid off for an economic reason unrelated to the accident. However, being laid-off from employment for economic reasons does not automatically negate such a connection. This court has held only that evidence of being laid off for economic reasons without more is insufficient to establish causation. Williams Roofing, Inc. v. Moore, 447 So. 2d 968, 972 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
Whether a claimant has shown the required causal connection between wage-loss and his injury is a question of fact which the deputy must determine from the totality of the circumstances. A claimant must simply produce competent substantial evidence from which there can be inferred a causal relationship between the industrial injury and any subsequent wage-loss, such as evidence of an unavailing work search sufficiently extensive and intensive. City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So. 2d 573, 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) p.f.r.d. 458 So. 2d 271 (Fla.1984).
Here, the deputy found, and there is competent evidence in the record to show, that Allen conducted a good faith, unsuccessful work search during the months for which he claimed wage-loss, which search is not challenged on appeal. Because Allen was not precluded by his lay-off from showing other evidence of causal connection, and because he provided such evidence in the form of an unavailing job search, we affirm the award of wage-loss herein.
AFFIRMED.
BOOTH, C.J., and WENTWORTH, J., concur.
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Rodriguez v. Sheraton BAL Harbour Hotel & Cigna, 509 So. 2d 369 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…totality of the circumstances. A claimant must simply produce competent substantial evidence from which there can be inferred a causal relationship between the industrial injury and any subsequent wage loss. Ox [*371] ford Building Service v. Allen, 498 So. 2d 523, 524 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). Put another way, the claimant’s burden is to present evidence which reasonably permits a conclusion that the compensable physical limitation was an element in the causal chain resulting in or contributing to the wage loss.…
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STC/Documation & Traveler's Ins. Co. v. Burns, 521 So. 2d 197 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)…injury is a factual question to be determined by the DC based on the totality of the circumstances, and the claimant need only produce competent substantial evidence from which the DC can infer a causal connection. Oxford Building Service v. Allen, 498 So. 2d 523 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). In other words, claimant’s burden is to present evidence “which reasonably permits a conclusion that the compensable physical limitation was an element in the causal chain resulting m or contributing to the wage loss.” Rodriguez…
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Sparks v. Aluma Shield Indus. & Claims Ctr., 523 So. 2d 680 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)…obtaining employment within his abilities at his prior wage. See [*681] Williams Roofing, Inc. v. Moore, 447 So. 2d 968, 972 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Superior Pontiac v. Hearn, 458 So. 2d 1197, 1199 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Oxford Building Service v. Allen, 498 So. 2d 523, 524 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); City of Miami v. Simpson, 496 So. 2d 899, 901 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Whalen v. U.S. Elevator, 486 So. 2d 670, 671 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). Because the record and the deputy commissioner’s order clearly show that the deputy believ…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- City OF Clermont & Aetna Ins. Co. v. Rumph, 450 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
- Trella Martinez v. Martinez, 447 So. 2d 968 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)