Thompson v. City of Jacksonville, No. 92-3783

• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
• Writing for the Court: BENTON; KAHN; ZEHMER; ZEHMER
• Citation: 654 So.2d 1178
• Parties: 20 Fla. L. Weekly D122 David J. THOMPSON, Appellant, v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, Appellee.
• Docket Number: No. 92-3783
• Decision Date: 04 January 1995

Page 1178

654 So.2d 1178 20 Fla. L. Weekly D122 David J. THOMPSON, Appellant,
v.
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, Appellee. No. 92-3783. District Court of Appeal of Florida,
First District. Jan. 4, 1995.

Page 1179

Daniel C. Shaughnessy and Stephen M. Armstrong of Coker, Myers, Schickel, Cooper & Sorenson, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellant.

Thomas W. Arnold, Jr., General Counsel, Thomas E. Crowder, Asst. General Counsel, Jacksonville, for appellee.

BENTON, Judge.

David J. Thompson, a certified public accountant with a master's degree in business administration, hurt his back at work. In the workers' compensation order under review, the judge of compensation claims found that Mr. Thompson's back injury, while arising out of and in the course of his employment, was not the cause of any loss of wages, at any time after his physician told him he could return to work. We find no reversible error.

On June 26, 1991, Mr. Thompson suffered his compensable injury moving boxes, a bookcase or both. Twelve days earlier he had been notified that his services as Public Safety Director were no longer needed by the City of Jacksonville: He was preparing to vacate his office on June 30, 1991, to make room for his successor, when he sprained or strained his lower back.

On the "issue of a change in employment status as a result of the injury," Nickolls v. University of Florida, 606 So.2d 410, 413 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), the claimant has the initial burden to show causation, a

burden [which] may be met by proof which encompasses medical evidence or evidence of a good-faith work search. Meek v. Layne-Western Co., 566 So.2d 31 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). Once the claimant has satisfied the initial burden, the burden of proof shifts to the E/C to demonstrate a voluntary limitation of income or to demonstrate that the injury is not creating an impairment or work-related physical restriction which would limit the claimant's ability to perform appropriate employment. Sec. 440.15(3)(b), Fla.Stat.

Id. at 412. In the present case, Judge Anderson found that the medical evidence did not establish, after October 28, 1991, any impairment pertinent to actualization of the accounting and managerial skills on which Mr. Thompson had depended for employment in recent years.

"To establish eligibility for ... benefits, a claimant has the initial burden of presenting evidence of a change in his employment status due to the compensable injury and of an adequate, good faith work search. Tampa Elec. Co. v. Bradshaw, 477 So.2d 624 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); D & R Builders, Inc. v. Quetglas, 449 So.2d 988 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Regency Inn v. Johnson, 422 So.2d 870 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)." Edwards v. Caulfield, 560 So.2d 364, 374 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (emphasis supplied).

"Finding claimant excused from the job search requirement ... does not automatically entitle claimant to wage loss benefits." Coplin v. State, Dep't of Health and Rehabilitative Servs., 627 So.2d 1282, 1285 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). The judge of compensation claims properly considered all the evidence, including medical evidence, even though he concluded that Mr. Thompson had no obligation to look for work (without finding that he had not in fact done so), "[i]nasmuch as the Employer/Carrier failed to send the statutory temporary partial/wage loss letter to the Claimant following his release to return to work by Dr. Franco."

Page 1180

Excusing a claimant from the work search responsibility does not absolutely discharge this initial burden, and does not permit a compensation award unless the circumstances demonstrate the necessary causal relation and change in employment status.

Nickolls, 606 So.2d at 414 (Allen, J., concurring). Where, for example, a

claimant would have maintained his...