HM&B Secures Favorable Workers’ Compensation Final Compensation Order on Due Process Grounds

The Employer/Carrier accepted compensability of a workplace accident as well as injuries to the Claimant’s left shoulder and right knee. The Claimant petitioned for compensability of “plead injured body parts including corresponding diagnosis without limitation” without further specificity. Two days before the Final Hearing, the Claimant’s Trial Memorandum requested, for the first time, “compensability of tricompartmental osteoarthritis and internal derangement of the right knee.” This was the only issue tried at the Final Hearing. Gina M. Jacobs, Esq., successfully argued before the Judge of Compensation Claims that allowing the Claimant to ambiguously assert an injury/diagnosis and then add specificity on the eve of trial would be violative of the Employer/Carrier’s due process rights. The JCC concluded that the Claimant had not made a proper claim for benefits under Chapter 440, Florida Statutes, and that subject matter jurisdiction was lacking. This was a crucial win, not only for the party Employer and their Carrier, but for Employers and Carriers statewide, to curtail future use of this “fill-in-the-blank” tactics by the claimants’ bar. The win also resulted in a denial of a large attorney’s fees and costs claim to Opposing Counsel.