MARILYN KOGER, APPELLANT,
v.
SHERATON INN AND INA/AETNA AND TONY'S RESTAURANT AND RELIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES
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In a workers' compensation appeal, the court reversed the denial of permanent total disability (PTD) benefits to a claimant with neck and back injuries who could no longer perform her pre-injury work as a waitress or hostess. The court held that the causal relationship between the claimant's incapacity to earn and her industrial injuries was sufficiently demonstrated, notwithstanding her theoretical capability to perform some light work.
The court reversed the deputy commissioner's denial of PTD benefits, holding that a sufficient causal relationship exists between the claimant's incapacity to earn and her industrial injuries because she cannot continue the work in which she has training and experience due to the disabling effects of the injuries and physician-imposed restrictions, even if she is theoretically capable of performing some light work.
[1] A claimant's inability to continue in their trained and experienced line of work due to the disabling effects of an injury establishes a causal relationship between the i…
[2] A claimant's lack of employment is causally related to a compensable injury when the claimant is unable to perform pre-injury occupations due to physician-imposed restric…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“This Court has found a causal relationship between the incapacity to earn and the accident and injury when there is evidence that a claimant is unable to continue the work in which he or she has training and experience because of the disabling effects of the injury.”
Establishes the legal standard for demonstrating causal relationship required for PTD benefits
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMarilyn Koger, a 49-year-old with a sixth-grade education, suffered two compensable workers' compensation injuries: a neck injury while working for th…
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WIGGINTON, Judge.
Claimant appeals from the deputy commissioner’s order denying her claim for permanent total disability benefits. The deputy found claimant capable of doing light work uninterruptedly and concluded that her lack of employment was due to her geographical circumstances, albeit such circumstances were “forced upon her by economic necessity and not by any intention on her part to voluntarily limit her employment.” We reverse.
Since the deputy specifically found that claimant had not voluntarily limited her income, and as he properly found, based on the medical testimony, that claimant was capable of doing some light work, he necessarily predicated his denial of PTD benefits on a conclusion that claimant’s lack of employment was not causally related to her industrial accident. To the contrary, the record indicates that claimant, forty-nine years old at the time of the hearing and having a sixth grade education, had a past vocational history involving work almost exclusively as a waitress or hostess in the restaurant business. She suffered two compensable injuries, the first one to her neck while working for the Sheraton, and the second to her lower back while employed with Tony’s Restaurant. Claimant was forced to stop work in March of 1986 when she underwent a second surgery on her back. She has not worked since then. The vocational rehabilitation counselor who testified before the deputy specifically stated that in light of claimant’s restrictions imposed by her physicians, she had ruled out claimant’s pre-injury occupations. The counselor also testified that if less restrictions had been imposed or if she had been advised that claimant could undertake either of her pre-injury occupations, there would have been a greater job market available in the area in which claimant was then living.
This Court has found a causal relationship between the incapacity to earn and the accident and injury when there is evidence that a claimant is unable to continue the work in which he or she has training and experience because of the disabling effects of the injury. Holiday Inn v. Sallee, 496 So. 2d 227 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Carpenters R.V. Service v. Eckert, 455 So. 2d 590 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). As in Sallee, here there is evidence that claimant could no longer perform the job in which she had training and experience because of her injuries and concomitant restrictions placed on her by her physicians, and that she was displaced from her former employment because of at least one of her injuries and resultant disability. Thus, the required causal connection was sufficiently demonstrated. As the E/C did not adequately challenge claimant’s job search, Alchar Wholesale Hardware Company v. Mason, 452 So. 2d 127 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), and as the deputy found that claimant had not voluntarily limited her income, we must reverse the order denying the claim for permanent total disability benefits and remand the cause for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
MILLS and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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U.S. Foundry & Mfg. Co. & Gallagher Bassett Ins. Serv. v. Serpa, 564 So. 2d 559 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…found between the incapacity to earn and an industrial injury when there is evidence that a claimant is unable to continue the work in which he has training and experience because of the disabling effects of the injury. E.g., Roger v. Sheraton Inn, 527 So. 2d 284 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). This proposition has been applied to establish causation, but it has not been applied to establish a blanket rule that a claimant’s inability to continue work in which he has training and experience because of an injury necessar…
Authorities Cited
- Graham v. State, 496 So. 2d 227 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
- Carpenters R.V. Serv. & S.C. Ins. Co. v. Eckert, 455 So. 2d 590 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
- Alchar Wholesale Hardware Co. & Zurich Ins. Co. v. Mason, 452 So. 2d 127 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)