CGWC Orlando Injury Attorney Blog

This weekend, a Disney employee was killed in a monorail train accident, reportedly the first serious train accident in Walt Disney World's 38 years. At CGWC our sympathy goes out to the family of this accident victim.

Whenever an on the job accident occurs, we also think of worker's rights in Florida. Our Partner Stewart Colling found his calling for almost 25 years in the pursuit of workers' rights before he passed away unexpectedly a couple of months ago. We carry on this fight for workers' rights in his tradition and have recently hired Sean McCormack as a new attorney in our firm whose practice will focus on workers compensation and workers' rights.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an on the job accident, call CGWC for a free consultation about your rights under Florida's workers compensation and labor laws.

The rights of injured workers are once again under attack from the Insurance industry, the Chamber of Commerce, and the elected officials in Tallahassee who seem to care more about getting re-elected and collecting campaign contributions than passing a workers compensation law that is fair to the workers of the state of Florida. The following is an editorial article recently published in the Daytona Beach News Journal. ... "When a worker is injured on the job, both the worker and the employer benefit from having those injuries treated promptly and effectively. That, in a nutshell, is the rationale behind workers compensation insurance.
But the insurance companies that make a healthy profit from workers compensation policies benefit most by delaying and denying benefits. They have steadily pushed for regulation that makes it easier for them to say no when a claim is presented, and demanded hefty rate increases whenever legislation or court rulings promised to benefit workers or employers. What's puzzling is that the state's big business lobbying groups -- who are supposed to be concerned about the interests of all Florida employers -- have instead thrown their lot in with the insurance companies, pushing for legislation to increase the profits that insurance companies are able to squeeze from businesses' premiums while decreasing the protection those companies' workers are receiving. As a result, Florida's workers' comp insurance companies claim an average profit above 30 percent.
This year is no different. Members of the Florida House -- acting at the behest of Associated Industries of Florida and other big-business lobbying groups -- are pushing through a bill that would undermine the rights of injured workers to contest denials of their claims, by drastically reducing the amount their attorneys can be paid.
The bill is in response to an October ruling by the state Supreme Court in the case of a Charlotte County nurse, who was injured while lifting a patient in 2003. The company that sold workers compensation coverage to the hospital where Emma Murray worked vigorously disputed her claim, despite an independent medical examiner's opinion that Murray was entitled to benefits. The insurance company paid more than $16,000 in attorneys' fees fighting a claim that a judge of worker's compensation claims found was worth $3,244 in benefits -- and then turned around and argued that Murray's attorneys were entitled to only $685.
That sum, which worked out to a little more than $8 an hour for Murray's attorneys, was so patently ridiculous that the Supreme Court punched a hole in the state law that capped attorneys' fees for lawyers representing injured workers.
After the ruling, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which represents all workers' comp insurance companies in Florida, immediately demanded a 6.4 percent increase in insurance rates. That move was clearly intended to panic state lawmakers and business groups, and it worked. Two major House committees approved legislation that would buttress the caps on attorneys' fees. Those caps would reduce the chances that workers like Murray -- who suffer injuries that are significant, but not career-ending -- won't get the treatment they need to get back to work.
Gov. Charlie Crist has expressed mild approval of the House bill, telling The Miami Herald that he "like(s) less expensive insurance." But that simplistic analysis misses the point. Lower rates are great, but businesses also deserve insurance that actually protects their workers.
If the Legislature is serious about lowering rates, it has another option. Stephen Alexander, who heads the state's Office of Consumer Advocate, has recommended that the National Council on Compensation Insurance -- which he accurately describes as a "cartel" -- be banned from filing rate-increase requests in Florida on behalf of individual carriers. The NCCI's all-or-nothing approach is keeping workers comp rates artificially high in Florida, Alexander wrote in two reports released last fall.
If groups like Associated Industries and the Florida Chamber were serious about lower insurance rates for the businesses they claim to represent, they should have pushed hard for Alexander's recommendations to become law. Instead, the two reports have been virtually ignored, while big-business groups backed legislation to legally hamstring injured workers and deny companies the coverage they are paying for.
The groups purporting to speak for Florida's employers have been co-opted by the insurance-company cartel. It's up to lawmakers to see through the hype, and write laws that ensure companies pay a fair rate for coverage that actually protects their workers. " If you are tired of the insurance industrys' attacks on the rights of injured workers in Florida, feel free to contact your local legislator and express your concerns. If you need experienced and qualified legal help regarding a workers compensation matter anywhere in the state of Florida, contact Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter.

The Florida House will vote this week and will likely pass an amendment to the Florida Workers' Compensation Act knowing that that amendment is unconstitutional. The Florida Senate will take up an identical workers compensation bill in committee this week and will be told by a constitutional law scholar that it is unconstitutional. But that committee, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, will vote in favor of that bill, and later in the week the full Senate is likely to pass it too. The amendment repeals the word "reasonable" from that portion of the Florida workers compensation statute that describes what kind of attorney fee can be awarded to an injured workers' attorney in situations where the attorney wins the case and proves the insurance company wrongfully denied benefits to the injured worker that the injured worker was legally entitled to. The law that will remain after the word "reasonable" is removed from the statute will allow for the injured workers attorney fee to be either unreasonably low, as was the case in the Emma Murray case decided by a 5-0 vote of the Florida Supreme Court last October; or unreasonably high in situations where very little attorney time is spent but the recovery is very large. Obviously there will be many more unusually low fees than high fees and experienced workers compensation attorneys will shy away from representing injured workers (like they have done for the past 5 years) because one could spend 80 hours and get paid $8.11 per hour (as was the case in Emma Murray).
The Senate and the House know that they are just postponing another rejection of the law by the Court, but it will take 3 to 5 years for a case to wind its way to the Supreme Court, during which time countless injured workers will be taken advantage of by a workers' compensation law that is not only unfair to begin with, but unenforceable without the assistance of counsel. It is significant to note that the amount of attorneys fees an Insurance company is allowed to pay their own attorneys in not restricted by the law or by the court system.
It matters not to Republican Representatives or Senators that what they are doing is wrong. They do what leadership tells them to do, like Sheep, they follow the shepherd. Big Business in Florida wants another 3-5 years of not having to provide needed benefits to injured workers knowing the claimants can't get lawyers to represent them under an 'unreasonable' fee statute. No other form of insurance claim has this sort of problem. All other claims by third party beneficiaries have to be handled in good faith under the requirements of the Florida Insurance Code.If not, the carrier can be sued and 'reasonable' attorney fees recovered. Workers' Compensation claims are the only insurance claims in Florida for which an exemption from good faith claims handling is granted to the carriers.
If the proposed repeal of the word "reasonable" is signed into law by Governor Crist, as expected, workers compensation carriers and self insured employers in Florida will have no incentive to pay legitimate claims. Injured workers will be denied the opportunity to hire counsel in all but the most serious and severe injury cases. Can it ever be constitutional to repeal the word "reasonable" from a statute? No.

The Florida legislature is back in session in Tallahassee and is (once again) attempting to pass a workers compensation law that would hurt injured workers and severely limit their ability to hire a Florida workers compensation attorney to help them handle their case. House Bill 903 is a top priority of the insurance industry and "Big Business" groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida. This bill, if enacted into law, would mean that workers compensation attorneys representing injured workers could no longer recieve a reasonable attorneys fee, paid by the workers compensation insurance company, for winning a case against that insurance company for wrongfully denying an injured worker the benefits that that worker is entitled to under the law. Under Florida workers compensation law as it exists today, when an insurance company abides by the law and provides benefits to an injured worker as required, that insurance company does not owe the attorney for the injured worker any attorneys fees at all--- it is only when the insurance company fails to do what the law requires them to do, and the injured worker has to hire an attorney to get the benefits the insurance company has failed to provide, that that insurance company ever pays an attorneys fee to an injured workers attorney. Newspaper editorial boards across Florida have expressed concern over the unfairness of House Bill 903.

Stewart Colling, partner at the Orlando law firm of Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter is scheduled to speak at the 64th Annual Workers Compensation Educational Conference , August 16-19, 2009 in Orlando, Florida. The conference is sponsored by The Florida Workers Compensation Institute, Inc., a non-profit educational organization whose purpose is to keep all participants in the field of workers compensation law ahead of the learning curve with regard to workers compensation matters. Mr. Colling will be a featured speaker at the "Case Law Update" portion of the conference, discussing significant court decisions in workers compensation cases over the past year that have affected the rights of Florida injured workers and employers.

The Executive Council of the Workers Compensation Section of the Florida Bar met on Friday, January 16th 2009 in Miami to various issues that affect the Florida workers compensation system. The Executive Council is part of the Workers Compensation Section of the Florida Bar comprised of experienced attorneys from across the state of Florida, one-half of whom represent the rights of Florida's injured workers, and, one-half of whom represent workers compensation insurance companies. Items discussed included issues regarding the recent Florida Supreme Court case of Murray v. Mariner Healthcare, and its affect on workers compensation attorneys fees; the need for increased pay for the Judges of Compensation Claims; and various ways to improve the Florida Workers Compensation system in general. In attendance representing the rights of injured workers in Central Florida, was attorney Stewart L. Colling from the law firm of Colling, Gilbert, Wright & Carter in Orlando. The attorneys at Colling, Gilbert, Wright & Carter have represented injured workers in workers compensation matters, as well as claims involving all types of personal injuries, automobile accidents, nursing home abuse, and medical malpractice claims all over the state of Florida since 1986.

The organization that collects data for Florida workers compensation claims, NCCI, has asked Florida Insurance Commisioner Kevin McCarty to increase workers compensation premiums charged to Florida employers an average of 6.4% in 2009. This request for a workers compensation insurance premium hike follows the recent Florida Supreme Court decision in the case of Emma Murray v. Mariner Healthcare, wherein the Court ruled that Florida attorneys representing injured workers who are successful in obtaining workers compensation benefits that the insurance company has wrongfully refused to provide, are to be paid a "reasonable fee" by the workers compensation insurance carrier. Florida Workers Advocates, a group of Florida attorneys who represent the rights of injured workers and the Florida Justice Association have each hailed the Murray decision as a necessary ruling that will enable injured workers to hire competent workers compensation attorneys to fight against insurance companies that wrongfully deny them benefits.

The 2003 law had so restricted the amount an attorney could earn when representing an injured worker that lawyers across Florida were finding more lucrative legal work, leaving injured workers unrepresented and at the mercy of Florida's workers' compensation insurance companies. The lower appeals court had upheld the trial court's ruling that the worker's attorney was only entitled to an attorney's fee of $ 8.11 per hour. The attorney had won benefits of over $ 3,200 for Emma Murray. This new Supreme Court decision struck down those fee limitations and held that attorneys for injured workers are entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys' fees for the work performed, unrestricted by these artificial caps. Workers had long been at a disadvantage in cases since the workers compensation insurance companies could pay their lawyers as much as they wanted to fight workers' claims in workers' compensation courts, leaving the playing field unlevel and odds stacked against injured employees.

While many attorneys had stopped handling workers compensation cases after the 2003 law went into effect, at CGWC, we never abandoned Florida's workers, and Stewart Colling has led teams of workers compensation attorneys in fighting for the rights of injured workers for 25 years. If you or a loved one has been injured on the job, contact CGWC for a free consultation about your legal rights to workers compensation benefits.

Senate Bill 50A went into effect in 2003. Most folks haven't heard of it and probably don't know what it means. But this law has done more to harm the access of injured Florida workers to the worker's compensation system, worker's compensation benefits, wages, and adequate health care than all the many bills and laws enacted over the past 20 years. Most of these laws have had the effect of further restricting the rights of workers, under the guise of reducing insurance premiums of their employers. This bill has given insurance companies free reign to destroy the lives of injured workers in Florida. It so severely restricts attorneys' fees for worker's compensation claimants that many lawyers won't take worker's compensation cases due to caps on their fees. Meanwhile, there are no caps at all on the fees that can be paid to the insurance companies' lawyers.

Emma Murray, injured on the job in 2003, has asked the Supreme Court of Florida to find the law unconstitutional. Her attorney worked on her case for about 85 hours and was warded only about $ 8.00 per hour under the new law. This law is unfair because it allows the foxes to guard the henhouse. The insurance companies, as a practical matter, hold the keys to the worker's compensation system. The Supreme Court of Florida recently heard oral arguments in Emma's case, and others are pending. CGWC hopes that the Supreme Court strikes down this manifestly unjust and unconstitutional law and give Florida workers' a more level playing field in the workers' compensation system. If you have been injured on the job, call CGWC for a free consultation.