Skinner v. Florida Power Corp., 90-01054
| Decision Date | 15 January 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-01054,90-01054 |
| Citation | 16 Fla. L. Weekly 212,580 So.2d 615 |
| Parties | Roy SKINNER, Appellant, v. FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellee. 580 So.2d 615, 16 Fla. L. Week. 212 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Dorothy Clay Sims of Sims & DiLorenzo, P.A., Ocala, and Jonathan D. Ohlman of Pattillo & McKeever, P.A., Ocala, for appellant.
Kurt Preston Hampp of Hampp & Schneikart, P.A., St. Petersburg, for appellee.
This cause is before us on appeal from a workers' compensation order awarding claimant partial reimbursement for the costs of building a wheelchair-accessible home. Claimant, while working for the employer/self-insured (E/SI) at a construction site, sustained injuries rendering him a quadriplegic. Claimant constructed a new 2,300-square-foot, $310,000, wheelchair-accessible home. The judge of compensation claims (JCC) found the necessary and reasonable cost of making the home wheelchair accessible to be $28,950. However, the JCC reduced the $28,950 reimbursement award to $19,298.07, and stated that the reduction was in lieu of giving the E/SI a lien on the house. The order of the JCC is, in pertinent part, as follows:
I find that the Claimant has been required to construct certain aspects of his home either in a different manner or in a larger size in order to accommodate his disability. I find that this Claimant, married after his injury occurred, was justified in removing himself and his wife from his parents' home and that the Claimant's well being actually required this. I find that the Employer is responsible for making modifications to accommodate this Claimant's impairment, and I find that the most logical way to handle this is to treat it as if it were a modification to an existing home, with the options being either a direct payment of costs, with a lien given to the Employer, or a direct payment of part of the cost without the encumbrance of a lien on the property.
....
... After considering all the testimony in this cause, I find that it is reasonable that Claimant's impairment required an additional 527 feet of living space to accommodate his impairment. I find that a reasonable cost of construction in Dixie County is $50.00 per square foot in accordance with the testimony of Edward Young, and I find that the Claimant is entitled to the consideration of $26,350.00 for this additional construction. Additionally, I find that the Claimant is entitled to the cost of $200.00 for a wheel chair ramp, and for the additional garage space of 96 square feet at a construction cost of $25.00 per square foot, or $2,400.00, for a total consideration of $28,950.00.
Under normal situations, a lien to the Employer on the premises would be considered. This is not, however, a normal situation. This...
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Gilley Trucking Co. v. Morrell, 90-3819
...376 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), Polk County Board of Commissioners v. Varnado, 576 So.2d 833 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), and Skinner v. Florida Power Corp., 580 So.2d 615 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). In Choate, a paraplegic claimant sought an "Enabler II," while the E/C offered to modify claimant's existing conv......
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Temps & Co. Services v. Cremeens
...relied on the line of decisions holding that a medical expense or apparatus is not apportionable. See, e.g., Skinner v. Florida Power Corp., 580 So.2d 615 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Applegate Drywall Co. v. Patrick, 559 So.2d 736 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). We agree with the e/c that the decisional law ......