SPECIAL DISABILITY TRUST FUND OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
COLLIER ENTERPRISES AND FEISCO INSURANCE, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1996-06-27
No. 95-4178
ERVIN and DAVIS, JJ., and SMITH, Senior Judge, concur.
676 So. 2d 45 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1996) Negative Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

The Special Disability Trust Fund appealed a workers' compensation reimbursement decision, challenging the judge's allowance of a late claim based on a revised maximum medical improvement (MMI) date. The court reversed, holding that once the two-year statutory period for filing reimbursement claims has expired, it cannot be revived by subsequently establishing a different MMI date.


Holding

No. Once the two-year period following the MMI date has expired, a reimbursement claim cannot be revived by finding a different MMI date. The statutory deadline is absolute and cannot be extended by post-hoc evidence regarding the actual MMI date.


Headnotes

[1] A claim for reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund is barred if not filed within two years after the employee last reached maximum medical improvement or wi…

[2] Once the statutory two-year period for filing a claim for reimbursement from the Special Disability Trust Fund has expired, the claim cannot be revived by a subsequent fi…

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Key Quotes

“The right to reimbursement as provided in this subsection shall be barred unless written notice of claim of the right to such reimbursement is filed by the employer or carrier entitled to such reimbursement with the division at Tallahassee within 2 years after the date the employee last reached maximum medical improvement, or within 2 years after the date of the first payment of compensation for permanent total disability, wage loss, or death, whichever is later.”

Establishes the two-year statutory deadline for filing reimbursement claims under section 440.49(2)(g)

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Facts & Procedural History

The employer/carrier (E/C) filed a claim for reimbursement on August 17, 1993, more than two years after the stipulated MMI date established in a wash…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

In this workers’ compensation appeal, the Special Disability Trust Fund (Fund) challenges the final order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC) finding appellee, employer/carrier (E/C), entitled to reimbursement from the Fund and rejecting the Fund’s arguments that the application should be denied because it was untimely and because no merger occurred. As we agree with the Fund in regard to its first issue, we do not reach the second; accordingly, we reverse and remand the cause with directions that the application for reimbursement be dismissed.

Section 440.49(2)(g), Florida Statutes (1987), states in part:

The right to reimbursement as provided in this subsection shall be barred unless written notice of claim of the right to such reimbursement is filed by the employer or carrier entitled to such reimbursement with the division at Tallahassee within 2 years after the date the employee last reached maximum medical improvement, or within 2 years after the date of the first payment of compensation for permanent total disability, wage loss, or death, whichever is later. The E/C filed its claim for reimbursement on August 17, 1993, more than two years after the stipulated date of claimant’s maximum medical improvement (MMI), which was set forth in a washout agreement and approved by order. The JCC, however, justified the allowance of repayment on the theory that, notwithstanding the parties’ stipulation, the last MMI date was in fact August 9, 1993, based upon recent deposition testimony of the claimant’s physician, thereby making the claim timely.

The JCC’s ruling in this regard was clearly erroneous. Our court’s decisional law has consistently interpreted section 440.49(2)(g) as requiring that once the two-year period following the date of MMI has expired, the claim for reimbursement cannot be revived by a finding of a different MMI date. See, e.g., Special Disability Trust Fund v. Executone of Cent. Fla., 670 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996); Special Disability Trust Fund v. Westwind Transp., 648 So. 2d 830 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Special Disability Trust Fund v. Champion Int'l, 584 So. 2d 619 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). Thus, under established case law, the JCC’s revised MMI date could not breathe life into the E/C’s stale claim.

REVERSED and REMANDED with directions that the E/C’s application for reimbursement be dismissed.

ERVIN and DAVIS, JJ., and SMITH, Senior Judge, concur.


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Cited By

  • …recluded from maintaining a position inconsistent with another position which was asserted at the same or a previous time to the prejudice of another, [citation omitted]” Id. at 60. Finally, in Special Disability Trust Fund v. Collier Enterprises, 676 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) the E/C filed its claim for reimbursement on August 17, 1993, more than two years after the stipulated date of MMI set forth in an approved washout agreement. Nonetheless, the JCC found the claim timely, based on the testimony of…

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