EMPLOYER'S OVERLOAD OF DADE COUNTY AND GEORGIA CASUALTY, APPELLANTS,
v.
GLENN ROBINSON, APPELLEE
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.
In a workers' compensation case, the appellate court dismissed an appeal of a costs award because the order was not final—the judge of compensation claims had reserved jurisdiction to determine attorney's fees. The court held that piecemeal review of costs awards is disfavored when other matters remain pending.
An order awarding costs is not reviewable on appeal as long as other matters, such as attorney's fees, remain pending before the judge of compensation claims. Costs awards are not final orders unless they are incidental to an adjudication on the merits, and piecemeal review is disfavored.
[1] An order taxing costs is not reviewable while other matters remain pending before a judge of compensation claims, unless appealed as part of an adjudication on the merits…
[2] An order awarding costs is not a reviewable non-final order under Rule 4.160(b), Florida Rules of Workers' Compensation Procedure.
Previewing 2 of 5 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“As long as any other matter is pending before a judge of compensation claims, an order taxing costs is not reviewable, unless appealed as part of an adjudication on the merits.”
Establishes the primary rule that costs awards are not reviewable while other matters remain pending before the compensation judge.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceEmployer's Overload of Dade County and Georgia Casualty appealed an order awarding costs to the claimant Glenn Robinson. The parties had settled befor…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Reservation Of Jurisdiction For Attorney'S Fees cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
The only issue raised in this appeal is whether the judge of compensation claims erred in awarding costs to the claimant. We dismiss the appeal. As long as any other matter is pending before a judge of compensation claims, an order taxing costs is not reviewable, unless appealed as part of an adjudication on the merits. Here, the award of costs was not incidental to an adjudication of the merits of a workers’ compensation claim. The need for a decision on the merits had been obviated by a settlement reached before the merits hearing was scheduled to begin.
In the very order appealed, the judge of compensation claims reserved jurisdiction to determine entitlement to attorney’s fees. An order awarding costs is not among the reviewable non-final orders listed in Rule 4.160(b), Florida Rules of Workers’ Compensation Procedure (1993). Piecemeal review is highly disfavored. See generally Hines Electric v. McClure, 616 So. 2d 132 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993).
Where the merits are resolved without hearing and the only issues remaining before the judge of compensation claims concern attorney’s fees and taxable costs, judicial economy is served by postponing an appeal of an award of taxable costs until the judge of compensation claims has also ruled on the attorney’s fees issue. See generally City of Tampa v. Fein, 438 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (order determining entitlement to bad faith attorney’s fees not final until order determining amount of fee award was entered). Considerations of judicial economy pertain with special force where, as here, both awards may hinge on the determination whether an employer or an employer’s insurance carrier has acted in bad faith.
In dismissing this appeal, we do not in any way depart from the rule that a judge of compensation claims may, in an order adjudicating the merits of a claim for benefits, reserve jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees, without affeeting the finality of the order adjudicating the merits (which may include an award of costs). See Kolmel Plumbing, Inc. v. Kolmel, 448 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); City of Tampa v. Fein, 438 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983).
The appeal is dismissed without prejudice to raise the question of costs on appeal of a final order disposing of all matters then pending before the judge of compensation claims.
SMITH, LAWRENCE and BENTON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Dep't OF Child. & Families v. Monroe, 744 So. 2d 1163 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)…re non-final and non-appealable as to attorney’s fees. See Scullin v. City of Pensacola, 667 So. 2d 215, 216 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Wometco Enters. v. Cordoves, 650 So. 2d 1117, 1118 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Employer’s Overload of Dade County v. Robinson, 642 So. 2d 72, 73 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Clay Hyder Trucking v. Lastinger, 586 So. 2d 1082 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Kolmel Plumbing, Inc. v. Kolmel, 448 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); City of Tampa v. Fein, 438 So. 2d 442, 443 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Sunny Pines Convales…
-
Kennedy v. Orlando Shader Realty & Associated Indus. Ins. Co., Inc., 711 So. 2d 156 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)…d prior to the filing of a petition that does not meet the requirements of section 440.192. AFFIRMED. ERVIN and BOOTH, JJ., concur. . In this appeal of a final order determining attorney’s fees, see Employer's Overload of Dade County v. Robinson, 642 So. 2d 72 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994), we have jurisdiction to review the nonfi-nal order dismissing the petition for benefits. See Poutre v. Bee Gee Shrimp, 704 So. 2d 145, 147 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997).…
Authorities Cited
- City OF Tampa v. Fein, 438 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)
- Hines Elec. & Fla. Ins. Guar. Ass'n v. McCLURE, 616 So. 2d 132 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)
- Kolmel Plumbing v. Kolmel, 448 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
- Jackson v. State, 448 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)