Appeal Filed In Major Workers Comp Case

The Florida Supreme Court could wade into a case that potentially has major implications for the state's workers-compensation insurance system.

Credit commons.wikimedia.org

The legal group Florida Workers Advocates last week asked justices to take up the case, according to an online docket.

The case stems from arguments that a key part of the workers-compensation system is unconstitutional, but the 3rd District Court of Appeal last month ruled that plaintiffs, including Florida Workers Advocates, did not have legal standing and that the case was moot. The appeals court did not rule on the constitutional question.

That question deals with a longstanding concept in Florida that cases involving injured workers should be handled through the workers-compensation system instead of through civil lawsuits.

But a Miami-Dade County circuit judge ruled last year that the law preventing cases from going to civil trial was unconstitutional, at least in part because of legislative changes in 2003 that reduced benefits.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal decision last month overturned the circuit judge's ruling.

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