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

Almost immediately following the conference came the FloridaSupreme Court's reversal of Castellanos v. Next Door (2009). Thentwo months later, the court ruled another critical decisionunconstitutional in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg(2013). Clearly, the ramifications of these decisionsrepresent the most significant challenges faced by the Floridaworkers' compensation industry since Aguilera v. Inservices, Inc. (1999),which led to the sweeping reforms of 2003. All indications from thelegislature suggest that the industry at large is on the cusp of asimilar seismic shift in 2017.

The Castellanos decision effectively removes the capthat has been in place since 2009 for applicant attorneys' fees inall Florida workers' compensation cases. Not surprisingly,following this development, actuaries and auditors alikeuniversally concur in reporting that their internal metrics reflectan alarming rise in petitions for benefits across the board, now ayear removed from Castellanos.