Zabik v. Palm Beach County School District
30 FLW D2260
Certiorari review by District Court of Appeals is allowed if the JCC orders a psychiatric MMI without statutory authority.
IMEs are allowed only in specified circumstances. Section 440.13(5)(a), Florida Statutes (2000), permits an IME if the facts disclose a dispute regarding overutilization, medical benefits, compensability, or disability. Section 440.1925(1), Florida Statutes, authorizes an IME if there is a dispute regarding maximum medical improvement or permanent impairment. It is incumbent upon the party seeking an IME to prove the existence of a dispute. Court determined that JCC erred in this instance in ordering an IME. The most that the employer/carrier had shown in support of a motion for an IME was that the IME might resolve a future dispute over whether the claimant was psychiatrically disabled. Such a speculative dispute did not comply with the statutory requirements of a current controversy concerned with issues that would authorize an IME.