Disability Law

First DCA: Employer/Carrier Must Provide Independent Medical Examination

By David A. McCranie, Esq.

"In any dispute concerning overutilization, medical benefits, compensability, or disability benefits under this chapter, the carrier or the employee may select an independent medical examiner."  So begins §440.13(5), Fla. Stat.  Nelis Pena, an injured worker, filed a petition for benefits claiming entitlement to various disability benefits under the Florida Workers' Compensation Law and subsequently filed this Motion to Compel the Employer/Carrier to provide a psychiatric independent medical examination ("IME").  The JCC denied the motion, and Pena therefore filed this petition for writ of certiorari with the First District Court of Appeal.  According to the argument contained in the petition, the Employer/Carrier had argued that the Claimant was not entitled to an IME because there was no "dispute" concerning either "overutilization, medical benefits, compensability, or disability."  In any event, the Employer/Carrier confessed before the First District Court of Appeal that the JCC had committed error, and the Court therefore granted the petition in a short opinion dated 1/23/2008.  Pena v. Tampa Maid Foods, Inc.

Full post as published by Florida Workers’ Compensation Law Blog on January 28, 2008 (boomark / email).