SPIRO J. CORNAROS, PETITIONER,
v.
THE CARILLON HOTEL, EMPLOYERS SERVICE CORPORATION, AND FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION, RESPONDENTS
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.
The Industrial Relations Commission erred in substituting its judgment for that of the Judge of Industrial Claims regarding the weight of evidence.
An employee injured at work claimed higher tip income than reflected in employer business records. The Judge of Industrial Claims accepted the employe…
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 Weight Of Evidence cases and more on FLexlaw
This case arose when petitioner Cornaros injured himself in the course of his employment at The Carillon Hotel September 22, 1966.
The Judge of Industrial Claims was presented with-conflicting evidence as to application of Fla.Stat. § 440.02(12), F.S.A., which provides that for purposes of establishing compensation, wages of an employee will include tips or gratuities “only when such gratuities are received with the knowledge of the employer.”
The employer offered business records showing the amount of wages and gratuities upon which it contended benefits should be based. Claimant Cornaros contended the records-did not reflect the true, higher amount of gratuities which he had reported to the employer. The Judge of Industrial Claims resolved the conflict in favor of claimant, and rejected the evidence offered by the employer.
The Industrial Relations Commission reversed, holding that the Judge erred in rejecting the evidence offered by the employer, business records, and accepting the evidence of the claimant, oral testimony, and ordered that compensation be recomputed based on business records. We grant claimant’s petition for writ of certiorari pursuant to Fla.Stat. § 440.27(1), F.S.A., to determine whether the Industrial Relations Commission erred in overturning the decision of the Industrial Claims Judge.
We conclude the Commission substituted its judgment of the evidence for that of the Industrial Claims Judge, whose responsibility it was to weigh the evidence and make findings of fact which, if supported by the evidence, must be accepted by the Commission. The decision of the Industrial Relations Commission is quashed as to this question, and the order of the Judge of Industrial Claims is reinstated. This *479cause is remanded to the Commission for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. Petitioner’s attorneys’ fees in this Court are awarded in the amount of $350.00.
ERVIN, C. J., and THORNAL, CARLTON and BOYD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
BOX v. State of Fla. Dep't OF Transp., 253 So. 2d 860 (Fla. 1971)….1951); Hardy v. City of Tarpon Springs, 81 So. 2d 503 (Fla.1955); Vandiver v. Watford, 178 So. 2d 195 (Fla.1965); Hammersla v. Price, 190 So. 2d 765 (Fla.1966); Fleischer’s, Inc. v. Bryant, 196 So. 2d 418 (Fla.1967); and Cornaros v. Carillon Hotel, 235 So. 2d 478 (Fla.1970). The cause is remanded to the Industrial Relations Commission with directions to reinstate the order of the Judge of Industrial Claims. It is so ordered. ROBERTS, C. J., and ERVIN, CARLTON and McCAIN, JJ., concur.…
-
Cargo GAS Co. & Am. Home Grp. v. Crumpton, 392 So. 2d 373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)…, then the attorney’s fee award should also be revisited. . Appellant argued that the only proper evidence of the amount of tips received by claimant in her concurrent employment was her income tax return. See, however, Cornaros v. Carillion Hotel, 235 So. 2d 478 (Fla.1970) which upholds the discretion of the deputy to accept a claimant’s testimony on the amount of tips over documentary evidence. Appellant also argued that the tips should not have been included in average weekly wage because they were not re…