Workers' Compensation
Listed below is McConnaughhay, Coonrod, Pope, Weaver & Stern, P.A.'s workers' compensation case law database. The database dates back until 1971 and includes over 5500 workers' compensation court decisions.
To view the case summaries, select one of the general topics listed below.
Waffle House v. Hutchinson
673 So. 2d 883, 21 FLW D1018
Claimant allegedly suffered on-the-job accident.
Employer filed notice of denial. Thereafter, petitions
for benefits were filed and the employer failed to file
notices of denial in response to these petitions.
Notwithstanding the fact that an initial notice of
denial was filed, the court found that the failure to
file notices of denial to the petitions required the
employer/carrier to pay the claimed benefits,
notwithstanding potential defenses that could be
asserted. Section 440.192(8), Florida Statutes,
requires the employer/carrier to file a notice of
denial or pay benefits within 14 days after receipt of
a petition for benefits by certified mail. A carrier
that neither pays nor timely denies compensability is
deemed to have accepted the employee's injuries as
compensable.
Subsection 440.192(8), Florida Statutes, does not
impact the substantive rights of the parties or alter
their statutory entitlement to benefits. Accordingly,
the changes in this provision are procedural as opposed
to substantive and have retroactive application. (Case
subsequently in part overruled. See the North River
Insurance Company v. Wuelling, 21 FLW D2492.)
