OLLIE MAE CHARLES, APPELLANT,
v.
SUWANNEE SWIFTY AND ASSOCIATED RISK, APPELLEES
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Florida appellate court reversed denial of temporary total disability benefits where medical evidence established claimant was not released to work and claimant was never informed she could return to work.
A claimant cannot be denied temporary total disability benefits when medical evidence establishes she was not released to work and she was never informed she could return to work.
[1] A claimant is entitled to temporary total disability benefits when medical evidence establishes she was not released to work and she was never informed or made aware that…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOllie Mae Charles sought temporary total disability benefits for the period December 14, 1990, through September 16, 1991. Medical testimony from Dr. …
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SHIVERS, Senior Judge.
In this workers’ compensation appeal, claimant challenges the order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC) denying her claim for temporary total disability benefits for the period from December 14, 1990, through September 16, 1991. She argues that the JCC erred in rejecting unrefuted medical testimony in concluding that claimant was able to work and was not temporarily and totally disabled during this time. We reverse.
We agree with claimant that the medical testimony from Dr. Rivas and Dr. Kilgore did establish that claimant had not been released to work and could not return to work during the period in question, due either to her physical complaints of pain or to her questionable psychological condition. However, of greater significance is the fact that this testimony fails to establish, and the record is otherwise devoid of evidence indicating, that claimant was informed at any time prior to September 1991 that she was released to work, or, that she should have known she was released to work. Consequently, claimant cannot be denied temporary total disability benefits for the period in question, Croft v. Donna Jean Packing Company, 579 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), even assuming retrospective testimony that claimant could have worked during this period. Fulmer-Orlando v. Taylor, 419 So. 2d 734 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).
Therefore, the order of the JCC denying temporary total disability benefits from December 14, 1990, through September 16, 1991, is hereby reversed, and the cause is remanded, for further proceedings to award the requested benefits.
BOOTH and MINER, JJ., concur.
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Garcia-Vina v. U.S. Holiday Health & Rec. & Aetna Ins. Co., 634 So. 2d 200 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…1331 (Fla.1986); Daytona Linen Serv. v. Davis, 454 So. 2d 46, 48 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Fulmer-Orlando v. Taylor, 419 So. 2d 734, 735 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). This court most recently reiterated and reaffirmed this principle in Charles v. Suwannee Swifty, 622 So. 2d 114, 115 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (claimant cannot be denied TTD benefits once physicians failed to inform her she was released to work, “even assuming retrospective testimony that claimant could have worked during this period”). We reverse those portions o…
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Holiday Foliage & Crawford & Co., Inc. v. Anderson, 642 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…is indicated, temporary total disability benefits cannot be denied for failure to search for work where the evidence shows that claimant neither knew nor could have known that he was medically released to return to work. Charles v. Suwannee Swifty, 622 So. 2d 114 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993); Davis v. Phillips & Jordan, 483 So. 2d 534, 536 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). Although compensation benefits are not payable to the claimant during the periods he or she is an inmate of a public institution, such compensation may be paya…
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Amburgey v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sch. Bd. & Crawford & Co., 712 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)…dence the claimant is able to return to work is not sufficient to deny temporary total disability benefits in the absence of evidence the claimant was informed or should have known that he or she was released to work. See Charles v. Suwannee Swifty, 622 So. 2d 114 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993); Garcia-Vina v. U.S. Holiday Health and Recreation, 634 So. 2d 200 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Scotty’s v. Boles, 680 So. 2d 524 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). In Cocho v. Continental Baking, 648 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995), we held that the…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Fulmer-Orlando v. Taylor, 419 So. 2d 734 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- Petr Taborsky v. State, 579 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)