EMPLOYER PREVENTED FROM CLAIMING WORKER’S COMPENSATION IMMUNITY DUE TO PRIOR INCONSISTENT POSITION THAT NO EMPLOYER/EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP EXISTED
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, LLC Where an employer denies a claim for worker’s compensation benefits on the basis that there was no employment relationship, the employer may be prevented from asserting in a later civil action that the worker’s exclusive remedy was worker’s compensation. In Mena v. J.I.L. Construction Group […]
WHEN IS AN INJURY COMPENSABLE UNDER THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW?
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, L.L.C. An injury must “arise out of” one’s employment and must occur “in the course and scope of” that employment in order to be compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Law. In Caputo v. ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, 2012 WL 2814008 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012), Claimant, […]
NOTICE TO OR EMPLOYER’S KNOWLEDGE OF INJURY TO EMPLOYEE CONSTITUTES NOTICE TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CARRIER
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, L.L.C. Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Law requires employees who suffer an injury arising out of and in the course of their employment to advise their employer of the injury within 30 days after the date of or initial manifestation of the injury. The employer must then report […]
GROSS NEGLIGENCE – AN EXCEPTION TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION IMMUNITY
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, LLC Where workers’ compensation is in place, the workers’ compensation insurance is generally the exclusive remedy for the injured employee, unless the injury is the result of gross negligence, an intentional tort, or where the conduct in question is virtually certain to result in injury or […]
SEPARATION OF INSURED PROVISION CREATES SEPARATE INSURABLE INTEREST IN EACH INSURED UNDER INSURANCE POLICY
By: Alexander S. Beck, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, LLC A coverage exclusion found in many commercial general liability (CGL) policies is the “employer’s liability exclusion”. Under this exclusion, an employer’s insurance coverage does not extend to the bodily injury of its employees, when the injury arises out of and in the course of their […]
CONSTRUCTION SITE INCIDENT WAS NOT “VIRTUALLY CERTAIN” TO OCCUR, THEREBY LIMITING RECOVERY TO BENEFITS RECEIVED UNDER WORKER’S COMPENSATION LAW
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, LLC In R.L. Haines Const., LLC v. Santamaria, 2014 WL 4648522, the estate of a construction foreman filed a lawsuit for wrongful death due to a fatal accident on a construction site. Foreman worked for a Subcontractor on a 200,000 square foot expansion project of an […]
GENERAL CONTRACTOR IS IMMUNE FROM SUIT BY SUB-SUBCONTRACTOR’S INJURED EMPLOYEE WHERE SUBCONTRACTOR SECURES WORKER’S COMPENSATION INSURANCE
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, LLC Any contractor or subcontractor who engages in public or private construction in the state of Florida is required to secure and maintain workers’ compensation for its employees. The liability imposed on employers by Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Law is to only secure workers’ compensation insurance coverage. […]
WORKER’S COMPENSATION IMMUNITY APPLIES TO COMPANY UTILIZING EMPLOYEES FROM A HELP SUPPLY SERVICE COMPANY
By: Richard E. Guttentag, Esq., Stearns, Roberts & Guttentag, LLC Florida’s workers’ compensation laws are a comprehensive scheme designed to provide swift compensation to injured workers regardless of fault or cause of injury. In exchange, employers who comply with the worker’s compensation laws are generally immune from personal injury lawsuits brought by their employees, except […]