Florida: Circuit Court Finds Exclusive Remedy Defense Unconstitutional

The Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit (in and for Miami-Dade County) has entered an Order finding that the exclusive remedy provision of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Act (see § 440.11, Fla. Stat.) is unconstitutional because, in relevant part, injured workers, as well as their spouses, children and estates give up the right to sue the employer in tort and receive in return a set of rights that is significantly inferior to those that the workers enjoyed before the adoption of the 1968 Florida Constitution and the amendments to the Workers’ Compensation Act that became effective as of October 1, 2003. Citing, among other decisions, Smothers v. Gresham Transfer, Inc., 332 Ore. 83, 23 P.3d 333 (2001), in which the Supreme Court of Oregon held various provisions of that state’s Workers’ Compensation Act unconstitutional because Oregon employees were required to give up valuable rights without receiving anything of commensurate value (for an extended discussion of Smothers, see Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.04), the Florida court indicated that the right to sue the employer in tort was a more practical option for Florida’s “working people” following Florida’s move from "a contributory negligence state to a comparative negligence state” [emphasis by the circuit court]. They had given up the right and received little in return.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Padgett v. State of Florida, Case No. 11-13661 CA 25 (Circuit Court, 11th Circuit Judicial Court for Miami-Dade County, 8/13/14).

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.04 [100.04]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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