All Risk Corp. of Florida v. State, Dept. of Labor and Employment Sec., Div. of Workers' Compensation, AI-27

• Decision Date: 25 March 1982
• Docket Number: No. AI-27,AI-27
• Citation: 413 So.2d 1200
• Parties: ALL RISK CORPORATION OF FLORIDA, Gallagher-Bassett Insurance Service, Inc., Commercial Risk Management, Inc., R. P. Hewitt & Association, Inc., Professional Administration, Inc., Scott Wetzel Services, Inc., Self Insured Services, Inc., Whiting National Services, Inc., Risk Management Services, Inc., Gates, McDonald & Company Corporate Group Services, Inc., Florida Association of Service Companies, and St. Joseph's Hospital, Inc., Appellants, v. STATE of Florida, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, DIVISION OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1200

413 So.2d 1200

ALL RISK CORPORATION OF FLORIDA, Gallagher-Bassett Insurance Service, Inc., Commercial Risk Management, Inc., R. P. Hewitt & Association, Inc., Professional Administration, Inc., Scott Wetzel Services, Inc., Self Insured Services, Inc., Whiting National Services, Inc., Risk Management Services, Inc., Gates, McDonald & Company Corporate Group Services, Inc., Florida Association of Service Companies, and St. Joseph's Hospital, Inc., Appellants, v. STATE of Florida, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, DIVISION OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION, Appellee.

No. AI-27.

District Court of Appeal of Florida First District.

March 25, 1982.

Rehearing Denied June 2, 1982.

Richard B. Collins of Perkins & Collins, Tallahassee, for appellants.

George W. Butler, Jr. and Michael Rudicell of the State of Florida, Dept. of Labor and Employment Sec., Tallahassee, for appellee.

JOANOS, Judge.

This appeal is from the order of an administrative hearing officer dismissing the amended petition of the appellants for lack of standing without leave to amend. We note at the outset that a concession was made at oral argument that one of the appellants, Florida Association of Service Companies, does, in fact, lack standing. We shall, therefore, treat that association as having withdrawn for purposes of this opinion.

The Department of Labor and Employment Security, Division of Workers' Compensation, properly (the parties have so stipulated) announced its intent to repeal Rule 38F-5.01 through 5.23, and simultaneously adopt revised rules for Chapter 38F-5, involving self-insurers in workers' compensation law. All of the appellants except for St. Joseph's Hospital, Inc. filed a timely petition questioning the validity of the proposed rules and requesting a drawout hearing pursuant to Section 120.54(16), Florida Statutes (1979).

Subsequently, those same petitioners filed an amended petition questioning the invalidity of the proposed rules. Those petitioners alleged that they were individual service companies for individual self-insurers and self-insurer funds. Both petitions alleged that the petitioners would be affected by the rules "in that the proposed rules will create an increased cost for non-refundable bond premiums and will have the potential impact of depriving the self-insurors and self-insuror funds of the right to operate as self-insurors pursuant to Florida Statutes, Section 440.38." The amended petition further alleged that one of the individual service companies had been authorized by one self-insurer, Cedars of Lebanon Hospital Corporation, to represent it in this proceeding and that one individual service company had been authorized by a self-insurance fund, Florida Hospital Workers' Compensation, to represent it in the proceeding.

The Department of Labor and Employment Security, Division of Workers' Compensation (hereinafter referred to simply as the Department) filed a motion to dismiss the initial petition on the ground that the petitioners had not shown with particularity facts sufficient to show that they would be substantially affected by any of the proposed rules. Another ground was asserted which is not relevant here. The Department also filed a motion to dismiss the amended petition, on other grounds.

Two days before the scheduled hearing, petitioners filed a motion to amend the amended petition by adding a party, St. Joseph's Hospital, Inc., an individual self-insurer. That motion alleged that the issues that St. Joseph's would seek to raise were identical to or substantially similar to the issues already raised and it would, therefore, not prejudice the respondent or delay the proceedings if the joinder were permitted. On the same day the Department filed a motion to dismiss the amended petition on the grounds that petitioners lacked standing to challenge the proposed rules in that they were not substantially affected persons within the meaning of Section 120.54(4)(a), Florida Statutes (1979).

After a hearing on both motions, St. Joseph's was allowed to join as a party-petitioner, but the Department's motion to dismiss for lack of standing was granted as to all parties except St. Joseph's. After the hearing, the Department filed a suggestion of lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter and renewed its earlier motion to dismiss on...