Gomez Lawn Service, Inc. v. The Hartford
37 FLW D2290
The claimant was the owner of the employer corporation. He was president and his wife acted as corporate secretary and chief operating officer handling all of the business details for the corporation. Claimant sustained an accident traveling between jobs and the claimant's wife reported the accident to the insured's automobile insurance company. Medical treatment for the accident was provided under the PIP insurance coverage of the auto policy. No notice was initially given to the WC insurance company. Once ntoice was given to the carrier workers' compensation benefits were denied by the carrier citing lack of timely notice of accident pursuant to Section 440.185, Florida Statutes. JCCdenied claim finding that the claimant and the employer were in effect the same party and because there was no timely notification to the carrier of the injuries until approximately 90 days after the accident.
When the facts are not in dispute, the JCC's application of the law based on those facts is reviewed de novo. When the issue is one of statutory interpretation, appellate review is de novo.
Even though claimant was the owner of the employer, notice of the accident to the employer was sufficient to establish proper notice. Section 440.41(1), Florida Statutes, provides that when the employer is not a self insurer, notice to and knowledge of an employer of recurrence of an injury constitutes notice to or knowledge of the carrier.
The statutory penalty imposed upon an employer who fails to timely report injuries is as set out in Section 440.185(9), Florida Statutes. To require claimant to inform a carrier of his injury within 30 days, the JCC in effect impermissibly created an equitable or non-statutory remedy. Workers' compensation is purely a creature of statute and all rights and liabilities under the system are as established by Chapter 440, Florida Statutes. General equitable principles do not permit non-legal (equitable) permutations of the law by requiring notice be given by the injured worker to the carrier.