Circuit courts lack jurisdiction to enforce interlocutory orders from judges of compensation claims, including orders approving mediation agreements for independent medical examinations.
The circuit court granted a rule nisi to enforce a judge of compensation claims' order approving a mediation agreement for an independent medical examination. The county appealed, arguing the circuit court lacked jurisdiction. The court applies the rule that circuit courts enforce only final compensation orders, while interlocutory orders, including those granting independent medical examinations or approving mediation agreements for such examinations, remain under the jurisdiction of the judge of compensation claims. Because the order at issue was interlocutory and not a final compensation order, the circuit court lacked authority to enforce it. The appellate court reverses the circuit court's order granting the rule nisi.
At page 1039 Circuit court jurisdiction over interlocutory compensation orders1 citing case886 So.2d 1039 (2004) MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Appellant, v. Nestor FONKEN, Appellee. No. 3D03-2136. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District. November…
- King v. Parker Hannifin Corp., 17 So. 3d 785 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009).published Id. at 1039-40.
v.
Nestor FONKEN, Appellee.
Robert A. Ginsburg, Miami-Dade County Attorney, and Douglas W. Rice, Assistant County Attorney, for appellant.
Richard E. Zaldivar; Jay M. Levy, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and LEVY, and WELLS, JJ.
WELLS, Judge.
Miami-Dade County appeals from a circuit court order granting a rule nisi. That order enforces an order from a judge of compensation claims approving a mediation agreement for an independent medical examination (IME) for Appellee, Nelson Fonken. We reverse.
As we confirmed in De La Pena v. Sunshine Bouquet Co., 870 So.2d 880, 881 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004), an order from a judge of compensation claims granting an IME is not a final compensation order that must be enforced by a circuit court:
The circuit court has jurisdiction to enforce a final compensation order of a judge of compensation claims. § 440.24(1), Fla. Stat. (1998); North Shore Med. Ctr. v. Capua, 634 So.2d 1141 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994). However, interlocutory orders, such as the one at issue here, are matters which properly belong before the judge of compensation claims who has the power to enforce his or her own interlocutory orders. § 440.33, Fla. Stat. (1998).
See North Shore Med. Ctr. v. Capua, 634 So.2d 1141, 1143 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994) (finding that where underlying workers' compensation case was still pending before judge of compensation claims, the circuit court had no jurisdiction to enforce an order that did not award specific compensation but merely approved a stipulation between parties in which parties agreed to attempt to resolve all pending issues and[*1040] retained jurisdiction in the event parties were unable to do so).
For purposes of enforcement, we see no distinction between an order of a judge of compensation claims granting an IME, which may be enforced by the compensation claims judge, and an order of a compensation claims judge approving a mediation agreement granting an IME. Neither is an order that must be enforced by a circuit court.
The order granting Fonken's petition for rule nisi is, therefore, reversed.