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.
Horticulture Plus, Inc. v. Ash
791 So.2d 535, 26 FLW D1791
Section 440.13(9)(c), Florida Statutes, provides for
the mandatory appointment of an expert medical advisor
where the issue is one of conflicting opinions on
causation. An expert medical advisor should be
appointed where there is a dispute over whether the
claimant's injuries resulted from his accident at work
or was due to a preexisting condition. Because of the
fact that the JCC determined that Section 440.13(9)(c),
Florida Statutes, was not applicable, he did not reach
a factual determination as to whether there was a
disagreement in the opinions of health care providers.
A physician is a health care provider if certified by
the Division of Workers' Compensation. There was no
determination by the JCC as to whether the testifying
physicians were certified by the Division of Workers'
Compensation. Case remanded to JCC for that
determination.
JCC erred in allowing the claimant to introduce
depositional testimony of two independent medical
examiners. Because the claimant did not make a showing
of the need for a second IME as required by Section
440.13(5)(b), Florida Statutes, the admission into
evidence of the testimony of two IMEs was error. In
citing the case of Watkins Engineeers & Constructors v.
Wise, 698 So.2d 294, the court determined that the
workers' compensation statute does not permit multiple
IMEs by physicians of different specialties.
