ANGELINA AARON, A WIDOW, APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, IDEAL CRUSHED STONE, INC., AND CORPORATE GROUP SERVICE, INC., APPELLEES
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The Third District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's workers' compensation lien award that applied a 1959 amended statute retroactively to benefits arising from a 1958 industrial death. The court held that the law existing at the time of injury, not the law in effect when the lien was filed, governs compensation benefits.
The court held that the amended statute cannot be applied retroactively to prospective compensation benefits. The law in existence at the time of the injury governs compensation claims, not the law in effect when the lien is filed or when the claim is adjudicated.
“the law in existence at the time of the injury applied”
The controlling principle from Hecht v. Parkinson that statutes are applied according to the law at time of injury, not at time of adjudication.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAaron's husband was fatally injured in an industrial accident in May 1958 while employed by Ideal Crushed Stone, Inc., allegedly due to negligence by …
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This appeal is from an order adjudicating certain amounts in favor of a workmen’s compensation insurance carrier for past as well as future compensation payments.
The only question presented is the alleged error of the trial court in awarding a lien for future compensation benefits pursuant to § 440.39(3), Fla.Stat., F.S.A., effective July 1, 1959, when the claim for benefits arose prior to that date.
The appellant’s husband was killed as a result of an industrial accident in May, 1958, through the alleged negligence of appellee Florida Power & Light Company. At the time of the fatal injuries, appellant’s husband was employed by appellee Ideal Crushed Stone, Inc. A third party tort-feasor action was instituted by appellant against Florida Power & Light Company on September 12, 1958. The appellee Corporate Group Service, Inc., on February 9, 1960, filed its notice of lien as compensation carrier in the tort action. The tort action was settled and the order of equitable distribution was entered on March 11, 1960.
Section 440.39(3), supra, was amended effective July 1, 1959, and provided not only for the equitable pro-ration of compensation benefits paid, but for compensation benefits to be paid. No such provision existed prior to the amendment.
The Supreme Court of Florida, in Hecht v. Parkinson, Fla.1954, 70 So.2d 505, held that the law in existence at the time of the injury applied. This court followed that pronunciation in the case of Employers’ Ins. Co. of Alabama v. Miller, Fla.App. 1960, 121 So.2d 813, where the factual situation was quite similar to the case at bar. In affirming an order pro-rating the share of the employee’s recovery for the insurance carrier, we rejected a contention that the trial judge failed to give effect to § 440.39(3) as amended.
Inasmuch as the order appealed attempted to apply the amended statute as to prospective payments of compensation benefits, the same was error and is hereby reversed. *890This cause is remanded with directions to vacate that portion of the order awarding prospective compensation benefits based upon § 440.39(3) as amended effective July 1, 1959.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
HORTON, C. J., and PEARSON, J., concur.
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Gen. Guar. Ins. Co. v. Moore, 143 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962)…a Statutes, 1957, F.S.A. the law in effect at the time of the injury to Moore. See Hecht v. Parkinson, Fla.1954, 70 So. 2d 505; Employers’ Ins. Co. of Alabama v. Miller, Fla.App.1960, 121 So. 2d 813; Aaron v. Florida Power & Light Co., Fla.App.1961, 126 So. 2d 889. Said subsection (4) reads: “(4) If the injured employee or his dependents, as the case may be, shall fail to bring suit against such third party tort-feasor within one year after the cause of action thereof shall have accrued, the employer if a s…
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C & T Erectors, Inc. v. Case, 481 So. 2d 499 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985)…424, 428 (Fla.1960). The statute applicable to the present matter is the one in effect when the injury Case sustained occurred, i.e., Section 440.39(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1981), as it was amended in 1977.2 Id.; Aaron v. Florida Power & Light Co., 126 So. 2d 889 (Fla.3d DCA 1961); Employers Insurance Company of Alabama v. Miller, 121 So. 2d 813 (Fla.3d DCA 1960). The statute in that form contemplates that once the attorney’s fee and costs stemming from the third party action are deducted from the tort recov…
Authorities Cited
- Hecht v. Parkinson, 70 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 1954)
- Emp'rs Ins. Co. OF Ala. v. Miller, 121 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960)