Tolling the Statute of Limitations After Voluntarily Dismissing a Petition for Benefits (PFB) Murphy v. Polk County Board of County Commissioners
- Sep 2, 2025
- 2 min read
September 3, 2025
On September 3, 2025, the First District Court of Appeal of Florida, in Murphy v. Polk County Board of County Commissioners, ruled that the statute of limitation related to an employee's initial PFB is not tolled where the employee voluntarily dismissed the PFB before adjudication, but asserts that a demand for attorney fees remains a pending issue.
In January 2017, an employee filed a PFB for an injury that occurred the prior year. The employee subsequently voluntarily dismissed the petition but asserted that the amount of attorney fees and costs remained a pending issue. More than two years after the initial injury, the employee filed additional PFBs, which the employer contended were barred by the two-year statute of limitations tied to the initial injury.
In reviewing the case, the court recognized that when multiple PFBs are filed for the same accident date, the statute of limitation is tolled as long as at least one petition remains pending between the filing of the first petition and the hearing on the last petition.
The court found that the statute of limitation did not toll because the employee filed the subsequent petitions after the first petition was dismissed and the two-year statute of limitations had run out. Moreover, the court reasoned that the employee's demand for attorney fees was derivative of, or collateral to, the successful prosecution of a PFB. Once the employee voluntarily dismissed the first PBF, there would not be a resolution that would give rise to an entitlement for attorney fees.
Therefore, the attorney fees demand by itself could not serve as a stand-alone basis to deem the petition pending for tolling purposes.
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