John F. Sharpless Workers Compensation Law Blog on Lawyers.com

On October 23, 2008 the Florida Supreme Court released a landmark decision in Emma Murray v. Mariner Health holding that Claimants are entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees payable by the Employer/Carrier when that Employer/Carrier has wrongfully denied benefits.  This had previously been the law prior to 2003 when the state legislature enacted changes to the law limiting attorney’s fees to fixed percentages of benefits (20% up to $5,000; 15% of amounts between 5 and $10,000; and 10% of amounts over $10,000) obtained on behalf of the claimant.

In Murray, the claimant was a certified nursing assistant who sustained a prolapsed uterus while lifting a patient on the job.  The Employer/Carrier denied the case and the claimant obtained counsel who filed a petition and successfully proved to the Judge of Compensation Claims that the case should have been covered under the workers’ compensation law.   The Judge awarded a fee payable to the claimant’s attorney, but found that the mandatory fee percentages limited the attorney to only $684.84 which amounted to $8.11 per hour based upon the 80 hours spent by the attorney.  Evidence presented revealed that the attorney for the Employer/Carrier was paid $16,050 for 135 hours of work.  The Judge expressly found that based upon the complexity of the issues and skill required of the attorney to prevail a reasonable fee would be $16,000.

While several compelling arguments were made that the law is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court was not required to address these as it found that the statute is ambiguous.  While one section of the statute (F.S. 440.34(3)) says that the claimant shall be entitled to a “reasonable attorney’s fee”, another section of the statute (F.S. 440.34(1)) says that a Judge shall not approve a fee in excess of the specific percentages.  The Court concluded that the provision entitling a claimant to recover a reasonable attorneys fee controls  and a reasonable fee should be determined by the Judge based upon the time and labor required, the novelty, complexity, and difficulty of the questions involved, and the skill requisite to perform the legal services properly.

In my view this unanimous decision (a 5-0 decision with non-participating justices) goes a long way to levelling the playing and restoring fairness to the workers’ compensation system.  For the past five years workers’ compensation carriers have had the ability to aggressively deny benefits unchecked, knowing that the claimant would not be able to secure counsel if the benefits were not of substantial value.  While a relatively inexpensive hernia repair or carpal release surgery may not have a large dollar value to a Carrier, it is of paramount importance to a worker that needs to be fixed so he can return back to the workforce.  Now the injured worker should be able to obtain representation to challenge a wrongfully denied claim, and at the same time Employers and Carriers do not owe fees or costs when a claimant brings a frivolous or unsuccessful claim.

                For more information about the Florida workers’ compensation law please see our website at www.tampaworkerscomp.com.