FIRST DCA ISSUES LANDMARK STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS OPINION

Thomas P. Vecchio, Esq.

            The First DCA recently held that where the parties reserve jurisdiction with respect to payment of attorney's fees and costs, the employer/carrier (EC) cannot raise a statute of limitations (SOL) defense with respect to medical and indemnity benefits owed to the claimant. Longley v. Miami Dade School Board, (Fla. 1st DCA, Feb. 2, 2012).

            This opinion never provides the date of accident, but the Court referenced a 2003 Petition for Benefits (PFB) with issues that remained outstanding several years thereafter. Thus, the date of accident is 2003 or before.

            The PFB that gave rise to this dispute was filed in March 2009. The issues were resolved. The parties requested that the pending mediation conference be cancelled, but jurisdiction was reserved with respect to attorney's fees and costs.

            The claimant filed another PFB, but the EC denied the entire claim on the SOL defense. At trial, the Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) agreed with the EC, and held that the SOL barred the claimant's entitlement to additional benefits. The JCC's reasoning was that resolution of all underlying substantive issues resulted in voluntary dismissal of the PFB. A PFB that is voluntarily dismissed is treated as though it was never filed with respect to the SOL.

            The First DCA held that the JCC erred, and that reservation of jurisdiction on fees and costs did not allow the EC to apply an SOL defense with respect to the underlying claim. The Court held that even with an otherwise viable SOL defense, reservation of jurisdiction on fees and costs prohibited the EC from raising the SOL defense with respect to medical and indemnity benefits. The outstanding fee/costs issue kept the underlying claim alive.

Application

            This is an important ruling because an outstanding, but unresolved, claim for fees and costs leaves the claimant free to claim entitlement to medical and indemnity benefits in the future, no matter how much time has passed since the claimant last received an authorized benefit. Prior to this opinion, parties frequently operated under the assumption that in certain claims, the SOL barred entitlement to benefits due to the claimant, even though a fee/costs issue remained outstanding. This opinion will surely cause claimants to file new PFBs on claims that employers and carriers once considered to be long resolved, but for fees and costs.

Practice Tip

           The best way to prevent this problem is to compel resolution of the attorney's fee. For many years, an EC had no authority to compel the claimant's production of a fee petition, or otherwise bring the fee claim to resolution. The Rules of Procedure now provide a mechanism for resolving outstanding fee claims. Rule 60Q-6.107(4) provides that the EC may file a motion asking the JCC to compel the claimant's production of a verified petition for attorney's fees and motion to tax costs. This rule is not mandatory; it indicates that the Judge may require the claimant to file his fee petition.