Hernando County School Bd. v. Dokoupil, No. 94-3454
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
| Writing for the Court | An appeal from an order of the Judge of Compensation Claims. William D. Douglas; DAVIS |
| Citation | 667 So.2d 275 |
| Parties | 107 Ed. Law Rep. 393, 20 Fla. L. Weekly D2128 HERNANDO COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD and Gallagher Bassett Services, Appellants, v. Randy DOKOUPIL, Appellee. |
| Docket Number | No. 94-3454 |
| Decision Date | 13 September 1995 |
Page 275
v.
Randy DOKOUPIL, Appellee.
First District.
An appeal from an order of the Judge of Compensation Claims. William D. Douglas, Judge.
Michael D. Rouse and Mathew D. Staver of Staver & Associates, Orlando, for appellants.
James M. Callan, Jr., Clearwater; and Gus Vincent Soto, Tallahassee, for amicus curiae/Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, for appellee.
DAVIS, Judge.
Hernando County School Board and Gallagher Bassett Services, employer and carrier respectively ("e/c"), appeal an order finding that the injuries sustained by claimant, Randy Dokoupil, when he fell in the parking lot at Springstead West High School on March 30, 1994, are compensable. Because the Judge of Compensation Claims ("JCC") applied the wrong test to determine compensability we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The claimant was employed in 1989 by the Hernando County School Board to work as a substitute teacher. He was suffering from anorexia, liver disease, and osteoporosis before his 1994 accident. On March 30, 1994, he arrived at Springstead West High School to substitute for Ms. Rojero. He arrived before classes began for the day and signed in. He then learned that his first period was a planning period in Ms. Rojero's schedule and went to her classroom and picked up the grade/attendance book, worksheets, instructions and a seating chart. Realizing he had forgotten his glasses, pens, pencils and hall passes in his car, the claimant returned to his car. He took the papers obtained from Ms. Rojero's classroom with him. The claimant smoked a cigarette while sitting in his car, after which he took all of the materials and items he had gone to obtain and started back to the school. Loose papers from the attendance book fell out. While bending over to pick them up, he lost his balance and fell onto his right side. He was unable to rise without assistance, and someone helped him up. He walked another forty feet before he slid to the ground unable to walk any longer. He was found curled up in a fetal position, incoherent and in a great deal of pain. Claimant had a broken hip. He was treated by Dr. Springstead, who had treated him four years previously when his other hip had been broken after a fall at home.
The JCC found that the fall was "trivial" and that the major contributing cause of
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claimant's injury was his preexisting osteoporosis. He found that the hip possibly would have fractured idiopathically sometime in the near future. Nonetheless, the JCC awarded benefits after reasoning that "but for" the fact that the claimant fell, he would not have been injured in the manner and at the particular time that he was hurt. The test the JCC applied appears similar to...To continue reading
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Sedgwick CMS v. Valcourt-Williams, No. 1D17-96
...a level concrete floor is automatically compensable, irrespective of the cause of the fall."); Hernando Cty. Sch. Bd. v. Dokoupil , 667 So.2d 275, 277 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) ("The fact that the claimant was in the course and scope of his employment when he fell is insufficient; there......
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Bryant v. David Lawrence Mental Health Center, No. 95-1411
...congenital spinal abnormality. The JCC expressly found that the claimant's injury in Hernando County School Board v. Dokoupil, 667 So.2d 275 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) was the result of his preexisting osteoporosis. Finally, in Grenon v. City of Palm Harbor Fire District, 634 So.2d 697, 698 (Fla. ......
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Silberberg v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sch. Bd., 1D20-75
...at work "created an increased risk of the injuries" sustained by the employee (quoting Hernando Cnty. Sch. Bd. v. Dokoupil , 667 So. 2d 275, 277 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) ).2 The JCC also denied Silberberg's claim for authorization of an evaluation and treatment of his left femur, based......
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Ackley v. Labor Comm'n, No. 20190806-CA
...must have been "caused, in some sense, by an employee's employment"); see also Hernando County School Board v. Dokoupil , 667 So. 2d 275, 277 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1995) ("The fact that the claimant was in the course and scope of his employment when he fell is insufficient; th......
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Sedgwick CMS v. Valcourt-Williams, No. 1D17-96
...a level concrete floor is automatically compensable, irrespective of the cause of the fall."); Hernando Cty. Sch. Bd. v. Dokoupil , 667 So.2d 275, 277 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) ("The fact that the claimant was in the course and scope of his employment when he fell is insufficient; there......
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Bryant v. David Lawrence Mental Health Center, No. 95-1411
...congenital spinal abnormality. The JCC expressly found that the claimant's injury in Hernando County School Board v. Dokoupil, 667 So.2d 275 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) was the result of his preexisting osteoporosis. Finally, in Grenon v. City of Palm Harbor Fire District, 634 So.2d 697, 698 (Fla. ......
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Silberberg v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sch. Bd., 1D20-75
...at work "created an increased risk of the injuries" sustained by the employee (quoting Hernando Cnty. Sch. Bd. v. Dokoupil , 667 So. 2d 275, 277 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) ).2 The JCC also denied Silberberg's claim for authorization of an evaluation and treatment of his left femur, based......
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Ackley v. Labor Comm'n, No. 20190806-CA
...must have been "caused, in some sense, by an employee's employment"); see also Hernando County School Board v. Dokoupil , 667 So. 2d 275, 277 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1995) ("The fact that the claimant was in the course and scope of his employment when he fell is insufficient; th......