CLAY COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD AND ALEXSIS, INC., APPELLANTS,
v.
PAMELA ROBISON, APPELLEE
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 Clay County School Board appealed a workers' compensation award to Pamela Robison for bilateral DeQuervain's tenosynovitis affecting her wrists. The appellate court reversed and remanded because the trial judge failed to apply statutory amendments effective January 1, 1994, regarding notice of injury requirements and the causation standard requiring that work be the 'major contributing cause' of injury.
The court held that the trial judge erred by failing to apply the amended statutory standards. Regarding notice, the judge must determine whether notice was given within 30 days or whether subsection (b) or exceptional circumstances excused the delay; the judge's analysis did not adequately address exceptional circumstances for the June 6 injury. Regarding causation, for injuries after January 1, 1994, the claimant must prove that work performed in the course and scope of employment was the major contributing cause of the injury, not merely a contributing cause.
[1] A judge of compensation claims must apply statutory standards governing notice of injury and causation that are in effect at the time of the injury.
[2] For injuries occurring after January 1, 1994, a claimant must notify the employer of an injury within thirty days of its date or initial manifestation, unless specific ex…
Previewing 2 of 5 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“For accidents after January 1, 1994, a claimant has the burden of showing that her injury is one 'arising out of employment,' and that 'work performed in the course and scope of employment is the major contributing cause of the injury.'”
Establishes the amended statutory standard requiring work to be the major contributing cause, not merely a contributing cause of the injury.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobison, a special education teacher, experienced wrist pain on June 6, 1995, while performing end-of-year duties and again on September 11, 1995, whi…
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 Major Contributing Cause Standard cases and more on FLexlaw
BENTON, J.
The Clay County School Board and Alex-sis, Inc. (Clay County) appeal an order of the judge of compensation claims determining Pamela Robison’s wrist problems to be compensable and awarding benefits accordingly. Ms. Robison’s petition for benefits alleged dates of accident of June 6, 1995, and September 11, 1995. Because the judge of compensation claims did not apply the statutory standards governing notice of injury and causation which came into effect on January 1, 1994, Ch. 93-415, at 62, Laws of Fla., we reverse and remand for consideration in light of chapter 93-415, section 2, at 73, and section 22, at 132 (codified respectively at §§ 440.02(32) and 440.185(1), Fla. Stat. (1995)).
Ms. Robison worked for the Clay County School Board as a special education teacher. On June 6, 1995, she felt pain in her wrists while filling out forms, making year-end reports, and packing up her classroom materials. At a previously scheduled doctor’s appointment several days later, she told her doctor that she thought her wrist pain was related to her end-of-year duties at school.
Thereafter, on June 21,1995, another physician, Dr. Hardy, diagnosed bilateral De-Quervain’s tenosynovitis and prescribed a Freedom Thumb Keeper splint for her left wrist. Ms. Robison wore the splint during her summer work as a tutor for Clay County School Board, but she did not inform the school authorities that she thought she had suffered an injury at work. On September 11, 1995, Ms. Robison again felt pain in her wrists, this time while unpacking her classroom supplies. She reported this episode as a work-related injury to the principal’s office on September 15,1995.
Clay County defended the petition for benefits Ms. Robison filed on December 8, 1995, on grounds that Ms. Robison’s condition did not arise out of her employment and was not causally related to her employment, that no industrial accidents had occurred, that her condition was idiopathic in nature, and that she had failed to provide the statutorily required notice of injury. The judge of compensation claims found that Ms. Robison’s injury was compensable and awarded the medical benefits she requested.
Before it was amended effective January 1, 1994, section 440.185(l)(b), Florida Statutes (1993), provided that failure to give notice of an injury to an employer within thirty days of the date of the injury would bar a claim unless
[t]he judge of compensation claims excuses such failure on the ground that for some satisfactory reason such notice could not be given. However, when the delay in giving notice is so excused, no compensation shall be payable for aggravation of the injury caused by want of first aid or proper medical treatment during such delay, and every presumption shall be against the validity of the claim.
The statutory provision applicable here states in relevant part that a petition for benefits is barred unless the employer is notified of the injury within thirty days of the “date of or initial manifestation of an injury,” unless
(b) The cause of the injury could not be identified without a medical opinion and the employee advised the employer within 30 days after obtaining a medical opinion indicating that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment;
(d) Exceptional circumstances, outside the scope of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) justify such failure.
§ 440.185(1), Fla. Stat. (1995). For accidents after January 1, 1994, whether there is some “satisfactory reason” to excuse untimely notice is no longer the dispositive question. A judge of compensation claims must determine whether notice was given within thirty days, or, if not, whether subsection (b) or other “exceptional circumstances” excuse the want of timely notice.
Here Ms. Robison notified two doctors in June of 1995 that she thought her wrist pain was caused by activities at work, yet she did not so notify her employer until September 15, 1995. This notice was timely as to the second date of injury alleged. She told Dr. Hardy again on November 15, 1995, that her problems were work-related. The judge of compensation claims concluded that
[t]he reporting of this injury in September was prior to Dr. Hardy’s note of November 15, 1995 in which he commented on the causal relationship of the workplace activity of the repacking boxes and the claimant’s wrist condition. Therefore I find that the claimant timely reported the injury to her employer. This analysis does not specify exceptional circumstances excusing timely notice of injury as to the first of Ms. Robison’s claimed injuries. We therefore reverse and remand for the judge of compensation claims to reconsider this question under section 440.185(1), Florida Statutes (1995). See GTE v. Hall, 677 So. 2d 996 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (reversing because the judge of compensation claims did not apply the correct statute when determining if notice was timely).
Another superseded statutory standard was applied in deciding the merits. The judge of compensation claims did not determine whether Ms. Robison’s employment was the major contributing cause of her injury and resulting need for treatment. Dr. Hardy, the only doctor who testified as to causation, was not asked whether employment was the major contributing cause of her injuries. Ms. Robison engaged in pastimes, such as rubber stamping and crocheting, which the testimony identified as possible causes of her bilateral DeQuervain’s tenosyn-ovitis. Dr. Hardy testified that “indeed with her other pastimes which are all potential causative factors, then the possibility of packing and repacking of her supplies as the primary cause becomes considerably lessened.”
For accidents after January 1, 1994, a claimant has the burden of showing that her injury is one “arising out of employment,” and that “work performed in the course and scope of employment is the major contributing cause of the injury.” § 440.02(32), Fla. Stat. (1995). See Orange County MIS Dep’t v. Hak, 710 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998); Mangold v. Rainforest Golf Sports Ctr., 675 So. 2d 639, 642 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). Unless an injury is classified as an occupational disease, see Watkins Engineers & Constructors v. Wise, 698 So. 2d 294, 295 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997), a claimant injured on or after January 1, 1994, must prove that her work was the major contributing cause of her injury and any disability or need for treatment. On remand, if the judge of compensation claims again finds it necessary to determine whether Ms. Robison’s employment caused an injury, the amended statutory standard must be applied.
Reversed and remanded.
BOOTH and PADOVANO, JJ., CONCUR.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Marion Cnty. & Usis v. Futch, 983 So. 2d 689 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)…ional circumstance under the statute. Absent additional findings specifying other exceptional circumstances, the JCC did not have competent, substantial evidence to find that there were exceptional circumstances. See Clay County Sch. Bd. v. Robison, 725 So. 2d 425, 426 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (finding that the JCC did not apply the correct [*691] legal standard and requiring that the JCC specify the exceptional circumstances excusing timely notice of the injury). Thus, the JCC erred in finding that the claimant’s…
-
Motorola, Inc. v. Bradshaw, 798 So. 2d 819 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)…on the findings made by the JCC, however, we are unable to determine whether the JCC applied this statute.1 Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the JCC to make findings in accordance with section 440.185(1). See Clay County School Bd. v. Robison, 725 So. 2d 425 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999); GTE v. Hall, 677 So. 2d 996 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). BOOTH, BARFIELD and MINER, JJ., CONCUR. . We note that the JCC’s finding that claimant was not aware that his injuries arose from the automobile accident is not supported by…
-
Cromartie v. City OF ST. Petersburg/City of St., 840 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003)…CA 2001); see also Wilson v. Wilson, 827 So. 2d 401, 403 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) (reversing and remanding the trial court’s order as it was unclear to the court whether the trial court applied the correct legal standard); Clay County Sch. Bd. v. Robison, 725 So. 2d 425, 425 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (reversing and remanding the JCC’s order because the JCC failed to apply the statutory standards governing notice of injury and causation); Walker v. Friendly Vill. of Brevard, 559 So. 2d 258, 262 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (holdin…
Authorities Cited
- Mangold v. Rainforest Golf Sports Ctr. & Executive Risk Consultants, Inc., 675 So. 2d 639 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
- Orange Cnty. MIS Dep't & Johns E. Co., Inc. v. HAK, 710 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)
- Watkins Eng'rs & Constructors & Gallagher Bassett v. Wise, 698 So. 2d 294 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
- Cooper v. Kelley's Food Stores, Inc., 677 So. 2d 996 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)