Miami Nominees Announced 02.20.17

The Statewide Judicial Nominating Commission for Judges of Compensation Claims met in Orlando on February 20, 2017. The nominations for the Miami vacancies are

To replace Judge Charles Hill
Jeffrey Jacobs
Michele Ready
Robert Wells

To replace Judge Gerardo Castiello
David Goehl
Walter Havers
Robert Wells

Florida Legislative Session 2017

Some 2017 Florida Legislative filings:

SB 404 was filed by Senator Simmons. It provides "that the maximum reimbursement allowances and manuals approved by a three-member panel for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Law are exempt from legislative ratification under the Administrative Procedure Act when the adverse impact or regulatory costs of such allowances or manuals exceed any criteria specified in provisions, etc." No companion bill filed as yet. 

SB 516 was filed by Senator Perry. It deletes "provisions that limit certain workers’ compensation benefits for first responders; providing that mental or nervous injuries of law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, or paramedics are compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Law under specified conditions, etc." Amends 440.093 "Mental and nervous injuries" by adding a new paragraph (4) that would read "a mental or nervous injury suffered by a law enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, or paramedic is compensable under this chapter, whether or not the mental or nervous injury is accompanied by physical injury requiring medical treatment, if the mental or nervous injury is demonstrated by clear and convincing medical evidence by a licensed psychiatrist to meet the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder as described in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association and if the mental or nervous injury arose out of an activity performed within the course of employment as described in s. 440.091."

Last revised 02.06.17

PFB and New Case filings January 2017

The figures are in for Florida workers' compensation litigation filings in January 2017.

The PFB filings were up notably in January (14%) over the same month last year. The OJCC is projecting an annualized increase in the range of 6-7%.

	2015-16	2016-17	Change 2017/2016
July	5618	5637	0%
August	5443	6514	20%
September	5411	6125	13%
October	5788	5335	-8%
November	4982	5375	8%
December	5115	5461	7%
January	5035	5720	14%
February	5481	5488	0%
March	6002
April	5494
May	6119
June	6777
Average	5605	5738	2%

The "new cases" volume for January was also significantly increased (5%). The OJCC is projecting an annual increase of about 2% for 2017.

	2015-16	2016-17	Change
July	2740	2538	-7%
August	2529	2936	16%
September	2625	2650	1%
October	2744	2406	-12%
November	2330	2509	8%
December	2354	2400	2%
January	2363	2487	5%
February	2600	2378	-9%
March	2739
April	2579
May	2638
June	2937
	2598	2538

These projections are based upon the best information available, but are subject to change depending upon the potential filings volumes of the five months remaining in this fiscal year.