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The House Commerce Committee will take up a workers’ compromise amendment package Thursday that takes a more aggressive approach to attorney fees than did previous versions of the legislation. ​ The amendments to HB 7085 retain language allowing deviations from the statutory attorney fee schedule that link trial lawyer’s compensation to benefits secured through claims litigation. But it shrinks the maximum hourly fee from $250 in the existing language to $150. Such awards would be tied to customary fees charged by defense — not plaintiffs — lawyers, depending on jurisdiction. Click here to read more: ​

A Florida workers compensation reform bill that responds to the outcome of recent major workers comp rulings in the state passed 7-1 Monday in the Florida Senate’s Committee on Banking and Insurance. Click here to read more:

Workers compensation exclusivity has come under an increasing wave of attack in U.S. courts, as plaintiffs seek additional compensation for workplace injuries in an environment of decreasing benefits. “If it’s not a concerted effort, it’s a collective effort by the plaintiffs bar,” said Phillip Russell, a Tampa, Florida-based attorney with law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. “It has been a trend that became obvious over the past two years that more and more cases are being filed across the board trying to get around the exclusivity bar.” Click here to read more: ​

A Florida court’s review of workers’ compensation rating procedures by the National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI) could have a substantial impact on the State. The case, Fee v. Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, NCCI, is currently being weighed by the Florida First District Court of Appeal. Their decision of whether to overturn an lower court’s ruling that NCCI and OIR violated Florida’s Sunshine Law in establishing a 14.5 percent rate increase will be substantial for Florida residents. Click here to read more: ​

As lawmakers ponder changes to the workers' compensation insurance system, the 1st District Court of Appeal will hear arguments Feb. 22 about whether Florida's Sunshine Law was violated before regulators approved a 14.5 percent rate increase in September. ​The appeals court issued an order Monday scheduling the arguments, according to an online docket. Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers ruled in November that the rate increase should be tossed out because of violations of the open-government law. The appeals court allowed the increase to take effect Dec. 1, while the state Office of Insurance Regulation and the National Council on Compensation Insurance challenged Gievers' ruling. Click here to read more: ​

The Florida 1st District Court of Appeals decided against the plaintiff in a workers-compensation case because he sought to change primary doctors from a family practice physician to an orthopedist. According to a report by the News Service of Florida, state law allows for a change of doctors in a workers-compensation matter. However, the case of Brenton Davis v. RetailFirst Insurance Company and ServPro of Tampa was different. According to the report, RetailFirst Insurance failed to respond in time to Davis’ request for a change of physician. Click here to read more: ​

The chairman of a key House subcommittee said Wednesday that legislation to address rising worker’s compensation premiums will include curbs on attorney fees, “the biggest driver of the premiums.” Click here to read more:

Florida Supreme Court rulings in workers’ compensation cases will boost employers’ costs by 35.4 percent, adding $1.3 billion to the cost of doing business in the state, an economist warned Thursday during the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Insurance Summit. “This breaks into a $929 million annual increase in premiums for the insured employers and a $361 million increase in claims costs for the self-insured employers,” said Mike Helvacian, of the National Center for Policy Analysis. Click here to read more: ​

Injured workers are not entitled to switch from an authorized physician to a doctor in a different specialty if they do not receive a timely response to their request to change doctors under their workers compensation claim, a Florida appellate court has ruled. Brenton Davis, the defendant in the case, was injured in June 2014 while working for Gallatin, Tennessee-based Servpro Industries Inc., court records show. Servpro was insured for workers comp at that time by Lakeland, Florida-based RetailFirst Insurance Co. Click here to read more:

The fallout from the Florida workers’ compensation rate hike is only just beginning and the posturing early on from stakeholders will help shape the collective response. Already, a lawyer has directed criticism at a national data analyst, who has in turn directly contradicted that lawyer to Insurance Business. The Florida Supreme Court placed limits on attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases and changed how long term disability rates were calculated. The rulings prompted the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) to readjust the compensation rate and, following an unsuccessful court challenge, a 14.5% hike was approved. Business groups complain the cost of employment is too high, citing workers’ compensation as a major component, while labor organizations say employees aren’t being made whole for their injuries and they’re not returning to work. Click here to read more:

It would seem the biggest story would be the end of Florida’s hurricane drought as the state got hit by not one, but two hurricanes this year, the first hurricanes for Florida since 2005. ​ But those catastrophes weren’t the only storms Florida experienced in 2016. Florida Supreme Court decisions that upended the state’s workers’ comp system and subsequent rate hikes; the effect of ongoing abuse of assignment of benefits; the continuing battle over flood insurance rates; and the state’s first new insurance commissioner in 13 years, were all major headlines throughout the year. ​ Those in the industry say each of these stories will have a significant impact on the state going into 2017. Click here to read more:

Florida’s workers’ compensation rate increase of 14.5 percent will remain in effect while a Florida appeals court reviews a legal challenge to the state’s recent rate-making process. The First District Court of Appeals granted an extension to the stay issued on Nov. 28 when the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) filed its notice of appeal to Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers’ order halting the rate increase, which took effect Dec. 1. Click here to read more: ​