Can unsettling post-settlement events unsettle a settled workers' compensation claim?

Florida's First District Court of Appeal (DCA) recently confronted this question in a sympathetic case (Cordovez v. High-Rise Installation/Bridgefield; Fla.1st DCA 10/29/2010) forcing a closer look at the fine line between oft-encountered “buyer's remorse” and more rarely encountered authentic grounds for doing the virtually unthinkable: setting aside a settlement and general release where unanticipated post-settlement events present dramatic new circumstances for one of the parties — almost always the injured worker in such circumstances.

Attempts to “unsettle” settled workers' compensation claims, once thought impossible, gained traction following a few breakthrough successes in the late 1970s. Settlements were then greatly impacted by ensuing amendments, but after experiments with sharply curtailed settlements, the Florida Legislature began loosening its grip to the point where, in 2000, settlements no longer required judicial approval. Not even the attainment of maximum medical improvement (MMI) was a prerequisite to complete settlement any longer (although some protective procedures remain in place for the unrepresented claimant).