Florida Supreme Court
In 2003, the Florida Legislature enacted comprehensive workers' compensation reforms. As a result of this legislation, workers' compensation rates have declined throughout the state. The main thrust of these reforms was the ability to rein in obscene attorney fees by establishing guideline attorney fees based upon a percentage of the benefits obtained and eliminating fee awards based upon an hourly rate in workers' compensation cases arising after Oct. 1, 2003. In this case, a claimant's attorney racked up 80 hours in attorneys fees, when the underlying claimant was only seeking $3,224 in benefits. The trial lawyers have challenged the reforms based on the following issues: 1) equal protection violations; 2) due process violations; 3) separation of powers violations; and 4) access to courts violations.
Status: PENDING. Amicus brief filed Jan. 29, 2008.
