Florida Supreme Court Finds Attorney Fee Schedule Unconstitutional
Wow - this will be impactful! Just when I thought Florida workers' compensation rates would go down this year...The most important sentence of this article to me is the last one:"According to the Office of Insurance Regulation, until the legislature addresses this decision, attorney fees will be evaluated under the “reasonable” award standard articulated in the Murray v. Mariner Health decision."http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2016/04/28/406984.htmFor those that may not recall, Murray v Mariner was a monumental case in Florida workers' compensation history. Here is the 2008 rate impact as proposed by the NCCI based on this case:"NCCI Proposes Rate Increase in Response to Emma Murray Decision NCCI estimates that the full impact of Emma Murray will be an increase in overall Florida workers compensation system costs of 18.6%. NCCI anticipates that it will take two years for the full impact to be realized, and therefore proposes a first year increase of half of the full impact. This equates to a proposed first year rate level increase of 8.9% in overall system costs."https://web.archive.org/web/20170506031004/http://phyadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NCCI_increase.pdfThe NCCI's immediate reaction right after this decision was made:"The impact on Florida’s workers compensation system costs is expected to be significant,” said Chris Bailey, a spokesman for NCCI."https://web.archive.org/web/20180626191657/http://www.miamiherald.com:80/news/business/article74444272.htmlI am sure there will be much more clarity to be had at the NCCI's Annual Issues Symposium this next week in Orlando - www.ncci.comHope to see you there !-PRH
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