CRAIG WILMOT, APPELLANT,
v.
PRECISION BROACH COMPANY AND FEDERATED MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, APPELLEES
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Florida appellate court affirmed denial of attorney's fees in workers' compensation case, holding that employer's prior administrative acceptance of permanent total disability based on physician determination, not attorney intervention, precluded fee award under the Deliso standard.
Attorney's fees are not warranted when the employer administratively accepted permanent total disability benefits prior to the petition based on the authorized physician's medical determination, not attorney intervention.
[1] Attorney's fees in workers' compensation cases are not awarded when the employer has administratively accepted benefits based on medical determination prior to the attorn…
Previewing 1 of 1 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“But for claimant's attorney's intervention, claimant's injury would not have been accepted as compensable and he would have received no benefits.”
The Deliso standard for awarding attorney's fees, which the court found inapplicable here because the employer had already accepted benefits based on medical determination.
Craig Wilmot, a workers' compensation claimant, initially had his permanent total disability claim controverted by his employer and carrier. However, …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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PER CURIAM.
In this workers’ compensation appeal, Craig Wilmot, the claimant below, appeals the final order of the Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) denying Wilmot’s claim for attorney’s fees. Wilmot argues, on the authority of City of Riviera Beach v. Deliso, 713 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997), that the JCC erred in denying fees because the employer/carrier, appellees Precision Broach Company and Federated Mutual Insurance Company, had initially controverted claimant’s claim for permanent total disability (PTD).
We do not agree. Deli-so is distinguishable from the case on appeal. In Deliso, the court concluded that “[b]ut for claimant’s attorney’s intervention, claimant’s injury would not have been accepted as compensable and he would have received no benefits.” Id. at 428.
Here, unlike Deliso, even though the claimant’s PTD claim was initially controverted upon the filing of a previous petition, it is undisputed that the employer/carrier administratively accepted the claimant as permanently and totally disabled on May 9, 2000, and commenced paying benefits prior to the filing of the instant petition for PTD benefits. Also, competent substantial evidence also supports the JCC’s finding that the basis of the employer/carrier acceptance of the claimant as PTD was not the intervention of the attorney, but was the authorized physician’s determination that claimant had reached maximum medical improvement.
The record also reflects that attorney’s fees have been granted to claimant in connection with the grant of temporary indemnity benefits.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM.
MINER, WOLF AND VAN NORTWICK, JJ., CONCUR.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- City OF Riviera Beach & Gallagher Bassett Servs., Inc. v. Deliso, 713 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)