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.
Wal-Mart Store #0649 v. Kirksey
24 FLW D358
The medical testimony admissible in a proceeding before
a JCC is limited to the opinions of a medical
advisor appointed by the JCC or the Division, an
independent medical examiner, or an authorized treating
provider. A claimant is under an affirmative
obligation to request an independent medical examiner
under Section 440.15(5)(a) if the claimant objects to
the decision of the employer/carrier to controvert her
request for benefits based upon the independent medical
evaluations obtained by the employer/carrier. In this
instance, the claimant did not request an IME and it
was error for the JCC to sua sponte designate an
unauthorized treating physician as an IME at the
hearing. It would likewise be error to designate
a chosen doctor by the claimant as the authorized
treating physician since the doctor in question had
never been authorized by the employer/carrier. The
case was not remanded to JCC for further proceedings
since even if the unauthorized doctor was allowed to
testify on behalf of the claimant, there was no
evidence that the industrial accident was the major
contributing cause of the claimant's need for medical
care.
