RICHARD L. MCMEANS, APPELLANT,
v.
F.E. BOOKER COMPANY AND ADJUSTO, INC., APPELLEE
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The court held that while the deputy commissioner's order was deficient for failing to address the claimant's request for permanent total disability benefits, the court would affirm because there was no competent substantial evidence to support such an award.
A claimant injured in a compensable accident filed for various benefits, including permanent total disability (PTD) and wage loss. The deputy commissi…
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NIMMONS, Judge.
The claimant appeals from an order of the deputy commissioner awarding wage loss and other benefits. We affirm.
Appellant/claimant was injured in a compensable accident on March 19, 1984. He was treated and released to light-duty work, and was eventually laid off due to a reduction in the work force in December, 1984. In July of 1985 he filed a claim requesting alternatively permanent total disability, wage loss, temporary total disability, or temporary partial disability benefits, attorney’s fees and costs. Subsequent to a hearing thereon, the deputy commissioner entered an order on March 31, 1986 finding claimant to be permanently impaired and awarding him wage loss benefits for the period between January 1985 and August 1985. The order failed to mention the claim for permanent total disability benefits. On appeal, claimant avers that the deputy erred in failing to award PTD benefits and in failing to rule at all upon the claim for such benefits.
Where evidence is presented on an issue properly before the deputy commissioner, the final order must reflect, at a minimum, that the deputy is aware of the claim and rejects it. Buckhalter v. University of Florida, 411 So. 2d 1327 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). As in Buckhalter, we cannot tell from the record before us whether the deputy was even aware that a claim for PTD was before him. Appellee contends that the granting of wage loss benefits necessarily constitutes a denial of a claim for PTD for the same period, which supplants the need for an explicit ruling on the PTD claim. We disagree with that contention in a case such as this where it is impossible to tell from the record that the deputy was aware of the PTD claim.
We nevertheless affirm since our review of the record reveals an absence of competent substantial evidence to support an award of PTD. A remand based upon the order’s failure to make a finding on the PTD claim would therefore be futile.
AFFIRMED.
BOOTH, C.J., and JOANOS, J., concur.
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Woods v. ST. Anthony's Hosp. & Johns E. Co., 586 So. 2d 415 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)…udge acknowledged the claim at the merits hearing. Since this claim was validly before the judge for determination, the final order was required to reflect, at a minimum, that the judge was aware of the claim and rejected it. McMeans v. F.E. Booker, 507 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). Thus, we remand with directions that the judge consider and rule upon this issue. Although we remand for the purpose of giving the judge the opportunity to rule on this issue, having already fully reviewed the record as it pert…
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Aquarius Condo. Assoc. & Aetna Cas. Ins. Co. v. Amaury Ramirez and Division of Workers' Compensation, 509 So. 2d 1204 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…commissioner found appellant not to be permanently and totally disabled, he did not, in the decretal portion of the order, expressly deny permanent total disability benefits. We distinguish this case from McMeans v. F.E. Booker Co. & Adjusto Inc., 507 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). In McMeans the claimant filed a claim for permanent total disability, wage loss, temporary total disability or temporary partial disability benefits. In the final order, the deputy commissioner awarded wage loss benefits, but fa…
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Glassford v. K. Neil Glassford & the Fla. Dep't of Labor & Emp. Sec., 568 So. 2d 89 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…treating physician. Finally, with regard to the JCC’s failure to reference a claim for permanent total disability benefits, remand would be unavailing, as no evidence supports an award of those benefits in this case. See McMeans v. F.E. Booker Co., 507 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). Appellants also challenge as unsupported by competent substantial evidence the JCC’s finding that they asserted the defenses of a general denial, former [*91] controversion, no causation, and ability to work. On remand, the JCC…
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- Buckhalter v. Univ. OF Fla. & Div. of Risk Mgmt., 411 So. 2d 1327 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)