MARINA LASTRA ZAFRILLA, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF MANUEL ZAFRILLA, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
VOLARE SHOES, INC. AND UNITED STATES FIDELITY AND GUARANTY COMPANY, APPELLEES
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The court reversed a workers' compensation ruling to hold that interest at the statutory rate applies to unpaid medical and hospital bills in workers' compensation cases, even when the legislature has not explicitly provided for interest on such benefits. The personal representative of a deceased worker successfully challenged the deputy commissioner's failure to award interest on disputed medical expenses.
Interest is due and payable at the statutory rate of six percent on medical and hospital bills unpaid by the employer/carrier when, after a reasonable period of investigation, they should have been paid. Although the legislature has not explicitly provided for interest on benefits of this class, the principle established in prior cases requires that such debts draw lawful interest from the date payment should have been made.
[1] A debt for compensation under Chapter 440, like any other debt ex contractu, draws lawful interest from the date it should have been paid.
[2] Interest is due and payable at the statutory legal rate on medical and hospital bills unpaid by an employer/carrier after a reasonable period for investigation and paymen…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a Chapter 440 debt for compensation, like any other debt ex con-tractu, draws "lawful interest thereon from the date it should have been paid," at the legal rate specified for contracts by statute”
Establishes the foundational principle that workers' compensation debts bear interest at the statutory rate
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA worker suffered a compensable accident and subsequently died. The employer/carrier disputed medical and hospital bills for more than six years befor…
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ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Judge.
Zafrilla’s personal representative, whom we recognize as the party in interest succeeding to that of the worker who was injured in a compensable accident and then died, urges on this appeal that the deputy commissioner should have awarded interest at the statutory legal rate on doctors’ and hospital bills unpaid by the employer/carrier during the more than six years this claim was contested. We agree with appellant’s contentions and remand the case for the calculation and award of interest on the amount of the unpaid bills from the date or dates the employer/carrier should have paid them, at the statutory legal rate. Section 687.01, Florida Statutes (1979).
We acknowledge that the legislature has not provided for the assessment of interest on unpaid benefits of this class, that Section 440.20(6) and (7), Florida Statutes (1978 Supp.) provides for assessment of monetary penalties when compensation “payable under the terms of an award” or as an “installment of compensation” due is not paid.
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court in Parker v. Brinson Constr. Co., 78 So. 2d 873, 875-76 (Fla.1955), held that a Chapter 440 debt for compensation, like any other debt ex con-tractu, draws “lawful interest thereon from the date it should have been paid,” at the legal rate specified for contracts by statute. That principle was later held to sustain an award of interest at the legal rate on attorney’s fees awarded by a deputy commissioner, payable from the date of award. Stone v. Jeffres, 208 So. 2d 827 (Fla.1968).
And the same principle was later held to require the payment of interest at the legal rate on an insurer’s debt for the insured’s medical expenses — a debt which “may have been due even prior to [the insured’s] death,” but which was “in any event” due at the time payment was later claimed in Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Griffin, 22 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969).
For the reasons stated at greater length by the Supreme Court in Parker and Stone, we hold that interest is now due and payable at the statutory rate of six per cent for medical and hospital bills unpaid when, after a reasonable period of investigation, they should have been paid by the employer/carrier. The deputy may direct payment to the claimant’s estate or to the physicians or hospital, or to both as their interests may appear. REVERSED.
MILLS, C. J., and WENTWORTH, J., concur.
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Mason v. Reiter, 564 So. 2d 142 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)…mages on the mother’s medical expenses and she is, therefore, entitled to prejudgment interest at the statutory rate from the date of that loss, which is the date of the child’s birth. See Argonaut, 474 So. 2d at 215; Zafrilla v. Volare Shoes, Inc., 394 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) (interest is due and payable for medical and hospital bills that remain unpaid when investigation revealed they should have been paid). Accordingly, we find that the trial court properly awarded prejudgment interest on the medica…
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Williams v. Amax Chem. Corp. & Underwriters Adjusting Co., 543 So. 2d 277 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)…mpensation” upon which penalties could be imposed. Although the instant case involves interest rather than penalties we believe such to be but a distinction without substantive difference. Even apart from the statute, Zafrilla v. Volare Shoes, Inc., 394 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), held that interest is payable on unpaid medical and hospital bills when, after a reasonable period of investigation, they should have been paid by the e/c. It comports with neither reason nor logic to extend this rule to a case…
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Ursula S. Herrero v. Pearce, 571 So. 2d 96 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…se for calculation and award of prejudgment interest at the statutory rate from each monthly date of loss when Pearce should have made each payment, see Argonaut Ins. Co. v. May Plumbing Co., 474 So. 2d 212 (Fla.1985); Zafrilla v. Volare Shoes Inc., 394 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). REVERSED and REMANDED. ERVIN, WIGGINTON and MINER, JJ., concur.…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Parker v. Brinson Constr. Co. & Fla. Indus. Comm'n, 78 So. 2d 873 (Fla. 1955)
- Stone v. Jeffres, 208 So. 2d 827 (Fla. 1968)