Risk of Denying a Workers Compensation Claim
The State of Florida Third District Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s non-final order denying a summary judgment motion for Coastal Masonry, Inc. The company had appealed the trial court’s order, which found that Coastal was not entitled to a workers’ compensation exclusivity defense as a matter of law.
This case is shared by Sam Frankel, an associate with Legal Solutions Group. It highlights the danger of not seeing the big picture. It may be that it is better to accept compensability of an injury where the alternative, a tort claim with pain and suffering, can vastly outstrip the dollar value of the compensation claim.
Every situation is different, but the point is that employers should think strategically about the claim rather than have a knee jerk reaction because sometimes, it is better to accept compensability than to deny it.
The entire ruling is here.
As it happens, Mr. Frankel has been working on a similar compensation and federal employment law case this week with Legal Solutions Group partner Jose Chanfrau.