Announcements

The Statewide Judicial Nominating Commission for Judges of Compensation Claims met in Orlando on February 20, 2017. The nominations for the Miami vacancies are To replace Judge Charles Hill Jeffrey Jacobs Michele Ready Robert Wells To replace Judge Gerardo Castiello David Goehl Walter Havers Robert Wells

Some 2017 Florida Legislative filings: SB 404 was filed by Senator Simmons. It provides "that the maximum reimbursement allowances and manuals approved by a three-member panel for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Law are exempt from legislative ratification under the Administrative Procedure Act when the adverse impact or regulatory costs of such allowances or manuals exceed any criteria specified in provisions, etc." No companion bill filed as yet.  SB 516 was filed by Senator Perry. It deletes "provisions that limit certain workers’ compensation benefits for first responders; providing that mental or nervous injuries of law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, or paramedics are compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Law under specified conditions, etc." Amends 440.093 "Mental and nervous injuries" by adding a new paragraph (4) that would read "a mental or nervous injury suffered by a law enforcement officer,

The figures are in for Florida workers' compensation litigation filings in January 2017. The PFB filings were up notably in January (14%) over the same month last year. The OJCC is projecting an annualized increase in the range of 6-7%. 2015-16 2016-17 Change 2017/2016 July 5618 5637 0% August 5443 6514 20% September 5411 6125 13% October 5788 5335 -8% November 4982 5375 8% December 5115 5461 7% January 5035 5720 14% February 5481 5488 0% March 6002 April 5494 May 6119 June 6777 Average 5605 5738 2% The "new cases" volume for January was also significantly increased (5%). The OJCC is projecting an annual increase of about 2% for 2017. 2015-16 2016-17 Change July 2740 2538 -7% August 2529 2936 16% September 2625 2650 1% October 2744 2406 -12% November 2330 2509 8% December 2354 2400