News & Events

Florida insurance companies and employers must closely track workers’ compensation developments. Workers’ compensation claims are a major expense for insurance companies. That’s why employers can expect to pay over one percent of their estimated payroll in workers’ compensation insurance costs. Even if there are no major annual changes each year, there are always some developments around the margins that will change both the costs and operation of the workers’ compensation program in the state. Here are some recent developments surrounding the workers’ compensation program and some that may happen in the immediate future. 

Rod Lundy, a partner, and Tylar Heintz, an associate, both of our Orlando office, secured a favorable verdict in Orange County, Florida following a 7 day trial.

Conroy Simberg's Hinda Klein obtains a reversal of a trial court‘s award of attorney fees in a PIP suit filed over pennies of interest.On August 17, the Fourth District Court of Appeal issued its opinion in Liberty Mutual Insurance Company v. PAN AM Diagnostic Services Inc. d/b/a PAN AM Diagnostic of Orlando a/a/o Claudine Jean, 4D21-2156, (Fla. 4th DCA 2022), reversing an attorney fee award of $24,028.27 in a suit filed over $0.14 cents of statutory interest.

Dale L. Friedman, a partner in the firm’s Hollywood Office, and Diane H. Tutt, an appellate partner in the firm’s Hollywood Office, recently obtained summary judgment in a wrongful death case brought by the personal representative (mother) of an intellectually disabled adult who was residing in a group home and was struck and killed by a vehicle as he walked across a roadway to get a snack.  The Plaintiff was represented by a very well respected personal injury law firm in Palm Beach. 

Florida has been known as one of the most difficult states for insurance companies to do business in. However, recently, Governor Ron DeSantis signed two important bills, Senate Bills 2D and 4D, into law that will change how insurance companies do business in Florida and the legal climate they may face. Given that the new laws take aim at some of the worst abuses propagated by plaintiffs’ lawyers, they can be thought of as consumer-friendly.