TROPICANA PRODUCTS, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
EMMA ANDREWS, APPELLEE
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Tropicana Products appeals a workers' compensation order awarding temporary total disability (TTD) and wage loss benefits to an injured employee. The court modifies the order, reversing the TTD award for a period where the employee admitted making no work search effort, but affirms benefits for later periods due to inadequate preservation of the issue below.
The court modified the order to delete TTD benefits for July 15, 1982 through November 24, 1982 (the period during which the claimant admitted making no work search effort), but affirmed the remainder of the order because the appellant failed to adequately develop and litigate the sufficiency of work search evidence for periods after November 24, 1982.
[1] A workers' compensation claimant must prove by competent and substantial evidence a good faith effort to obtain work commensurate with their post-accident abilities to de…
[2] A claimant's admission of making no effort to find work during a specific period precludes an award of temporary total disability benefits for that period.
Previewing 2 of 4 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 order to demonstrate entitlement to TTD benefits and wage loss benefits for these respective periods, it was the responsibility of the claimant to prove, by competent and substantial evidence, that she had made a good faith effort during those times to obtain work commensurate with her post-accident abilities.”
Establishes the legal standard for proving entitlement to disability benefits when medical evidence of total disability is absent.
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 was injured and terminated by Tropicana Products in March 1982. In a November 1982 deposition, she admitted making no effort to obtain emp…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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THOMPSON, Judge.
This is an appeal from a workers’ compensation order awarding, inter alia, temporary total disability (TTD) benefits for the period from July 15, 1982 through November 21, 1983, the date of maximum medical improvement, and wage loss benefits thereafter. We conclude that the order requires modification.
There was a complete absence of medical evidence that the claimant was totally disabled at any time between July 15, 1982 and August 11, 1983, or after November 21, 1983.
Therefore, in order to demonstrate entitlement to TTD benefits and wage loss benefits for these respective periods, it was the responsibility of the claimant to prove, by competent and substantial evidence, that she had made a good faith effort during those times to obtain work commensurate with her post-accident abilities. Tallahassee Coca Cola Bottling Company v. Parramore, 395 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). In a deposition taken on November 24, 1982, the claimant admitted that she had made no effort whatsoever to obtain employment since being terminated by the employer in March of 1982.
However, at a later deposition and at the final hearing, the claimant did adduce some evidence that she had been actively seeking work. This evidence was, to say the least, of only marginal sufficiency to demonstrate that a good faith work search had been conducted, and it certainly did not meet the minimum evidentiary standards for proof of an adequate and good faith work search established by the cases of Regency Inn v. Johnson, 422 So. 2d 870 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), pet. for rev. den., 431 So. 2d 989 (Fla.1983) and Conshor, Inc. v. Barnhart, 422 So. 2d 946 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). The appellant now contends that because of the insufficiency of the work search evidence the awards of TTD benefits and wage loss benefits must be reversed.
We agree that the award of TTD benefits for the period from July 15, 1982 through November 24, 1982 cannot stand, since the claimant expressly admitted that she had made no attempt to find work during this period.
However, we decline to review the sufficiency of the work search evidence for any period after November 24, 1982, because of the appellant’s failure to adequately develop and litigate that issue below. Here, as in City of Hialeah v. Cascardo, 443 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) and Chain Store Warehouses v. Picard, 431 So. 2d 685 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), the issue of the sufficiency of the work search evidence has not been preserved for review.
Accordingly, we modify the order to delete the award of TTD benefits for the period from July 15, 1982 through November 24, 1982, and affirm the order as modified.
ERVIN, C.J., and BOOTH, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Regency INN v. Johnson, 422 So. 2d 870 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- Tallahassee Coca Cola Bottling Co. & Hartford Ins. Co. v. Parramore, 395 So. 2d 275 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
- City OF Hialeah & GAB Bus. Servs., Inc. v. Humberto Cascardo & Div. of Workers' Comp., 443 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
- Conshor, Inc. v. Barnhart, 422 So. 2d 946 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- Chain Store Warehouses & Aetna Ins. Co. v. Picard, 431 So. 2d 685 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)