New workers’ compensation strategies needed in Florida

At the Florida Workers’ Compensation Forum (WCCP) in April, several speakers addressed the unique challenges emerging from the processing and defense of claims on behalf of some of Florida’s largest employers and workers’ compensation service providers.

Almost immediately following the conference came the Florida Supreme Court’s reversal of Castellanos v. Next Door (2009). Then two months later, the court ruled another critical decision unconstitutional in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg (2013). Clearly, the ramifications of these decisions represent the most significant challenges faced by the Florida workers’ compensation industry since Aguilera v. Inservices, Inc. (1999), which led to the sweeping reforms of 2003. All indications from the legislature suggest that the industry at large is on the cusp of a similar seismic shift in 2017.