Florida Injured Workers in Hands of Florida Supreme Court
The Florida Supreme Court is poised to hand down an historic decision, which will have great impact on the benefits that injured Florida workers will get or not get. The case, Murray v. Mariners Health, will decide whether the Florida Judges of Compensation Claims can award attorney fees to injured workers, based on the number of hours the Claimant's attorney has spent litigating issues in the case. In the Murray case, the injured worker Ms. Murray was denied all benefits by her insurance carrier. After nearly 85 hours of litigation, the Judge of Compensation Claims ruled for Ms. Murray and she received all workers' compensation benefits to which she was entitled. Her diligent attorney however, was only awarded $684.84, which is equal to $8.11 per hour!
The Murray case is part of a trend I have seen in my 23 years of practice: smaller benefits for injured workers and small fees for the attorneys representing them. Unfortunately, the biggest blow to injured workers was the handiwork of former Gov. Jeb Bush and his Republican allies in the Florida Legislature who devastated the workers' compensation law beginning October 31, 2003. This law, known as Senate Bill 50A, heavily limited many rights and benefits of injured workers.
Most significant of all the changes in Senate Bill 50A, was a terrible limitation on attorney fees for Claimant attorneys. Claimant attorneys under the law, are now limited to a fee calculated on a percentage of the value of benefits won. For example, I handled a case in which I obtained approximately $2,000.00 of past due lost wages. Although I spent over 20 hours litigating the case, I was only entitled to 20% of the lost wages or $400.00. The law does not place a limit on the attorney fees that an insurance carrier can pay its attorney. I am certain that the defense attorney received many thousands of dollars, while Randy Zeldin, P.A. was limited to $400.00. This is true life David v. Goliath in Florida workers' compensation.
After listening to the oral arguments made to the Florida Supreme Court, I am highly optimistic that relief will be coming. Many of the Justices were concerned about an uneven playing field, where insurance companies can pay attorneys all that is necessary, while injured workers have their hands tied behind their backs. I expect a decision at the very beginning of the Florida Supreme Court's term in early September.
