Sauer Indus. Contracting Inc. v. Ditch
| Decision Date | 02 August 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-2038,88-2038 |
| Citation | 547 So.2d 276,14 Fla. L. Weekly 1794 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 1794 SAUER INDUSTRIAL CONTRACTING INC., and CNA Insurance Co., Appellants, v. James E. DITCH, III, Appellee, v. FLORIDA BECHTEL and Commercial Union, Appellees/Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Michael N. Hutter of Rissman, Weisberg, Barrett & Hurt, Orlando, for appellants.
Michael E. Nebel of Reiff & Nebel, Orlando, and Bill McCabe of Shepherd, McCabe & Cooley, Longwood, for appellees.
Employer Sauer Industrial Contracting, Inc., and carrier CNA Insurance Company appeal a workers' compensation order by which claimant was found to have sustained multiple industrial accidents and awarded an exercise program and reimbursement for mileage and prescriptions. The responsibility for these benefits, and the cost of medical testing, was equally allocated between Sauer/CNA and another employer and carrier, Florida Bechtel and Commercial Union, who cross-appeal. We find that the claim against Sauer/CNA was timely brought within the limitations period, and that the deputy did not err in the allocation of responsibility between Sauer/CNA and Bechtel/Commercial Union. We therefore affirm the order appealed.
Claimant was employed by Sauer when he sustained an industrial accident in 1984, twisting his back while working with scaffolding. Sauer/CNA provided claimant with medical treatment which included orthopedic care. The orthopedist saw claimant until October 1984, when he felt that maximum medical improvement had been attained. At that time the orthopedist recommended that claimant be provided with a structured exercise program, as was used in supervised therapy, in order to strengthen his back.
Claimant was laid off by Sauer and thereafter obtained employment with Bechtel. In December 1985 and January 1986 he was involved in new industrial accidents, straining his back while moving a pump and carrying pipe. After initially obtaining care at an on-site clinic claimant returned to the same orthopedist with whom Sauer/CNA had provided treatment. Bechtel/Commercial Union paid for this new treatment, and the doctor again recommended a structured exercise program. The doctor so informed Sauer/CNA, and claimant also contacted Sauer/CNA in this regard. However, neither Sauer/CNA nor Bechtel/Commercial Union furnished the recommended program or provided any information as to claimant's entitlement to exercise therapy, prescription or mileage reimbursement, or disability compensation. In February 1986 claimant used his own funds to enroll in a structured exercise program as his physician had recommended.
Sauer/CNA assert that the claim filed against them in 1987 should be barred by the two-year statute of limitations in section 440.19(1)(b), Florida Statutes, which requires that medical claims be filed...
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