LAKELAND HIGHLANDS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND IOWA NATIONAL MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLANTS,
v.
RONALD CASEY (DECEASED) AND DARIN CASEY AND RONALD LEE CASEY, APPELLEES
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In a workers' compensation case, the court affirmed the deputy commissioner's award of death benefits to minor children of a deceased employee and attorney fees for bad faith non-payment. The employer's defense that the children were not economically dependent due to unpaid child support was rejected based on a conclusive legal presumption of dependency for legitimate, unmarried minor children.
Legitimate natural, unmarried minor children under eighteen years of age are entitled to death benefits under Florida law without proof of economic dependency. For this class of children, proof of economic dependency is irrelevant as a matter of law.
[1] Unmarried, legitimate, natural minor children are conclusively presumed as a matter of law to be entitled to workers' compensation death benefits without proof of economi…
[2] The statutory definition of a "child" for workers' compensation purposes distinguishes between children with a conclusive presumption of dependency and those requiring pr…
Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In this case there was never any contention that the claimants were not legitimate natural, unmarried minor children under the age of eighteen years. Proof of economic dependency for this class of children is irrelevant.”
The court's holding that no proof of dependency is required for legitimate natural unmarried minors under eighteen.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAn employee died, leaving minor children. The employer defended against paying death benefits by arguing the children had not been economically depend…
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BARFIELD, Judge.
In these workers’ compensation cases the employer appeals the orders of the deputy commissioner awarding death benefits to the minor children of the deceased employee and awarding attorney fees to claimants’ attorney based on the employer’s bad faith in failing to pay death benefits. We affirm.
The employer defended against payment of the claims on the grounds that the natural minor children of the employee had not been economically dependent on the employee because he had failed to pay court-ordered child support. The deputy commissioner found that there is a conclusive presumption as a matter of law that unmarried, legitimate, natural minor children are entitled to death benefits without proof of dependency, and in the alternative that there was sufficient evidentiary proof to establish the dependency of both claimants. While we agree that there is sufficient evidentiary proof to establish dependency under the law, we focus our attention on the deputy commissioner’s ruling regarding the conclusive presumption of entitlement to benefits without proof of dependency. The deputy commissioner is correct in this ease.
Section 440.02(13), Florida Statutes (1981) divides the classification of “child” into two groups. The first group includes legitimate natural children born at the time of the employee’s death, legitimate natural children born posthumously and children legally adopted by the employee prior to the injury. The second group includes stepchildren “dependent” upon the employee and acknowledged illegitimate children “dependent” upon the employee. Excluded from both groups are married children unless “wholly dependent” on the' employee and all children eighteen years of age or older unless full-time students in accredited educational institutions and under twenty-two years of age.
In this case there was never any contention that the claimants were not legitimate natural, unmarried minor children under the age of eighteen years. Proof of economic dependency for this class of children is irrelevant. White v. P and G Erectors, Inc., IRC Order 2-3650 (January 12, 1979).
AFFIRMED.
WENTWORTH and ZEHMER, JJ., concur.
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Gen. Elec. & Elec. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Jose DeCUBAS (deceased employee), 504 So. 2d 1276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)…lifies as a dependent of Jose. We affirm the finding of dependency although we do not agree with the deputy commissioner’s assessment of her burden of proof on that issue. Relying on the decision in Lakeland Highlands Construction Company v. Casey, 450 So. 2d 310 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), the deputy commissioner found that Caroline was not required to prove actual dependency to be eligible for death benefits under section 440.16(l)(b), since she was a twenty-year-old full-time student at the time of his death. We…
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Theis v. City OF Miami, 545 So. 2d 357 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)…alterius: where one thing is expressed and others are not, the Legislature is presumed to have intended to omit the items not expressed. City of Miami v. Cosgrove, 516 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). In Lakeland Highlands Construction Co. v. Casey, 450 So. 2d 310 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), this court stated that the statutory definition of child created two groups, one being of “legitimate natural children born at the time of the employee’s death, legitimate natural children born posthumously, and children legally…
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