FRANCISCO NIEVES, APPELLANT,
v.
DADE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD AND GALLAGHER BASSETT INSURANCE, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1991-06-11
No. 90-2584
ZEHMER, BARFIELD and WOLF, JJ., concur.
583 So. 2d 697 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1991) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 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

Francisco Nieves appeals a workers' compensation order that awarded his attorney a fee for securing permanent total disability benefits but denied a fee for securing chiropractic care benefits. The court reversed, holding that the initial claim for "remedial care" was sufficient to encompass chiropractic treatment and that uncontroverted evidence established the need for future chiropractic care.


Holding

The court held that the initial claim for "remedial care and attendance" was sufficient to encompass chiropractic treatment without a separate formal claim. The court further held that uncontroverted evidence demonstrated the claimant's need for future chiropractic care, and therefore the denial of an attorney's fee for securing chiropractic care benefits was error.


Headnotes

[1] A workers' compensation claim for "remedial care and attendance" is sufficient to raise the issue of a claimant's need for any and all necessary remedial medical treatmen…

[2] An employer and carrier are placed on notice of a claimant's need for chiropractic care when the claimant's attorney repeatedly requests authorization for such treatment…

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

Key Quotes

“We are aware of no statutory provision or case decision supporting the employer and carrier's contention that the claim as stated was not sufficient to raise the issue of a claimant's need for any and all necessary remedial medical treatment, including chiropractic treatment.”

Establishes that a general request for "remedial care" encompasses chiropractic treatment without a separate formal claim.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Nieves filed a workers' compensation claim requesting "remedial care and attendance." The employer and carrier initially refused to authorize chiropra…

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.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Francisco Nieves, claimant, appeals a workers’ compensation order that ruled that the employer and carrier acted in bad faith in controverting his claim for permanent total disability benefits and awarded his attorney a fee for securing those benefits, but denied his attorney a fee for securing chiropractic care benefits because, “no formal claim for chiropractic care was ever filed, nor is there evidence of the need for future chiropractic care.” (R. 251). Nieves contends that the record does not contain competent, substantial evidence to support these findings and that the denial of an attorney’s fee for obtaining chiropractic care benefits is error. We agree and reverse.

Section 440.19(l)(d), Florida Statutes (1983), the statute in effect at the time the claim for benefits was filed in this case, required that the claim set forth “the type or nature of medical treatment sought.” The claim for benefits in this case requested “remedial care and attendance.” (R. 247). We are aware of no statutory provision or case decision supporting the employer and carrier’s contention that the claim as stated was not sufficient to raise the issue of a claimant’s need for any and all necessary remedial medical treatment, including chiropractic treatment.

Furthermore, the record shows that the employer and carrier were placed on notice that claimant was specifically requesting chiropractic care.

The record shows that on several occasions prior to the employer and carrier’s authorization of such treatment, claimant’s attorney requested that they provide claimant chiropractic treatment, and only after several requests was such care provided.

The record does not support the denial of an attorney’s fee for securing chiropractic care benefits on the ground that “no formal claim” for such benefits was made.

The order alternatively based denial of an attorney’s fee for securing chiropractic care on the finding that there was “[no] evidence of the need for future chiropractic care.” We find no record support for this finding.

First, the need for continuing future chiropractic care was not in issue at the attorney’s fee hearing. The employer and carrier were already providing such treatment and had not requested that the judge of compensation claims approve deauthorization or termination of such treatment.

Thus, there was no need for claimant to present evidence that he needed future chiropractic care.

Second, the record contains evidence that claimant needs future chiropractic care. Dr. Baum testified, in person, at the attorney’s fee hearing that claimant needed and would continue to need chiropractic care at the rate of two treatments per week.

The record also contains two letters of Dr. Baum stating that claimant needed and would continue to need chiropractic care, and these letters were entered in evidence as exhibits at the attorney’s fee hearing. This evidence was uncontroverted.

Because the record does not contain any evidence supporting the findings on which the order denied claimant’s attorney a fee for his securing authorization of chiropractic care, and because the uncontrovert-ed evidence shows that claimant’s attorney secured these benefits for claimant, we reverse the appealed order in part and remand for a redetermination of the attorney’s fee due claimant’s attorney based on the inclusion of such benefits in the total amount of benefits obtained by the attorneys.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

ZEHMER, BARFIELD and WOLF, JJ., concur.

Other
ZEHMER, Judge.

ZEHMER, Judge.

On petition for rehearing, the employer and carrier argue that we erred in granting the claimant’s petition for an appellate attorney’s fee and remanding to the judge of compensation claims for a determination of the appropriate award. The employer and carrier urge us to grant a rehearing and deny the petition for appellate attorney’s fees because our opinion reversing the appealed order did not result in any benefits for the claimant, but merely resulted in additional attorney’s fees for the claimant’s counsel. We deny the petition for rehearing with the following observations.

Section 440.34(3), Florida Statutes (1989), states that the claimant is solely responsible for paying his own attorney’s fees; however, in certain situations the claimant is entitled to reimbursement by the employer or carrier for payment of such fees. Section 440.34(5), Florida Statutes (1989), states that if any proceedings are had for review of a compensation order, the court may award the injured employee or dependent and attorney’s fee to be paid by the employer or carrier. These statutory provisions make clear that the claimant, not the attorney, is the beneficiary of any attorney’s fee award against the employer and carrier because the payment of such fees to the claimant’s attorney is primarily the claimant’s responsibility. In light of these clear provisions, the employer and carrier’s assertion that this court’s opinion did not result in any benefits to the claimant is frivolous.

The petition for rehearing is DENIED.

BARFIELD and WOLF, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Foliage Design Sys., Inc. v. Aurora Fernandez, 589 So. 2d 389 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
    …es a different result.2 The constitutional issues asserted by the parties are mooted by our conclusion that the amendment is inapplicable to the claim in the case. Affirmed. SMITH and MINER, JJ., concur. . See Nieves v. Dade County School Board, 583 So. 2d 697 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Byrd v. Richardson-Green Shields Securities, 552 So. 2d 1099 (Fla.1989); Cernuda v. Heavy, 720 F.Supp. 1544 (S.D.Fla.1989); Fumigation Dept. v. Pearson, 559 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), rehearing denied, (Fla. 1st DCA 1989);…
  • Jairo Cardona v. Commercial Bldg. Maint., Inc., 626 So. 2d 335 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)
    …e actions of his counsel were necessary, and did in fact result in benefits to the claimant. The JCC’s denial of attorney’s fees under section 440.-34(3)(b), Florida Statutes (1989), in my opinion, was error. See, Nieves v. Dade County School Board, 583 So. 2d 697 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Alcoma Packing Co. v. Jones, 571 So. 2d 73 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Wiseman v. AT & T Technologies, Inc., 569 So. 2d 508 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Jackson v. Dade County School Board, 484 So. 2d 1290 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). I would therefor…
  • Mays v. Dixie Packers & Crawford & Co., 677 So. 2d 992 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
    …ard of such benefits, as long as the essential statutoiy requirements involving the benefits were otherwise satisfied, as had been done by their incorporation within the application for hearing. More recently, in Nieves v. Dade County School Board, 583 So. 2d 697 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), this court reviewed an order which denied a motion for attorney’s fees, entered on the ground that the employee’s lawyer had not secured chiropractic care for his client because no formal claim for same had been filed. In revers…

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw