City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). · Go Syfert
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City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
67 citation events (6 in the last 25 years) across 3 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: Avalon Center v. Hardaway (fladistctapp, 2007-09-21)
Treatment trajectory · 1984 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
1984 2005 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 26 distinct citers. How cited ↗
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Avalon Center v. Hardaway
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 2007 · confidence medium
"While the substantive rights of the parties in a workers' compensation case are determined by the law in effect at the time of the claimant's injury, this rule does not apply to procedural enactments." See City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 575 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Butler v. Bay Center/Chubb Insurance Co.
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 2006 · confidence medium
Lucie County Sheriff's Dep't, 599 So.2d 1353, 1355 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (explaining that an amendment to the method of obtaining wage loss was procedural where it altered "an evidentiary vehicle which supports such a claim."), review denied, 613 So.2d 6 (Fla.1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 913 , 113 S.Ct. 2350 , 124 L.Ed.2d 258 (1993); City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 575 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (characterizing as procedural, a "burden-of-proof enactment").
cited Cited as authority (rule) Vencor Hosp. v. Ahles
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1998 · confidence medium
Quoting City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. v. La Torre
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1997 · confidence medium
A claimant had the burden to prove that a compensable injury was “an element in the causal chain resulting in or contributing to wage loss.” City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Nickolls v. University of Florida
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1992 · confidence medium
See, e.g., Brosnan v. Sourbeck Roofing, Inc., 578 So.2d 460, 462 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Minton-Sun, Inc. v. Hills, 563 So.2d 162, 164 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Edwards v. Caulfield, 560 So.2d 364, 374-75 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Terners of Miami Corp. v. Freshwater
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1992 · confidence medium
"While the substantive rights of the parties in a workers' compensation case are determined by the law in effect at the time of the claimant's injury, this rule does not apply to procedural enactments." City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 575 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) MARTIN COUNTY BD. OF CTY. COM'RS v. Jones
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1992 · confidence medium
See Hinds v. Orlando Concrete Contractors, 454 So.2d 81 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (JCC's findings on adequacy of work search are factual findings and will go undisturbed absent a showing of abuse of discretion); City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (an unavailing work search, sufficiently extensive and intensive, may meet the statutory requirements for prima facie proof of causation), rev. denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Little Caesar's Pizza v. Ingersoll
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1990 · confidence medium
City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 575 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), review denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Tampa General Hospital v. Lawson
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1989 · confidence medium
However, to establish entitlement, a claimant need only show that a compensable injury was “an element in the causal chain resulting in or contributing to wage loss.” City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Garrick v. William Thies & Sons
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1989 · confidence medium
Quoting City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) STC/DOCUMATION v. Burns
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1988 · confidence medium
A claimant in a workers' compensation case bears the burden of presenting evidence that his or her compensable physical limitation is "an element in the causal chain resulting in or contributing to the wage loss." City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573 at 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Rodriguez v. Sheraton Bal Harbour Hotel
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1987 · confidence medium
City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA) p.f.r.d. 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
cited Cited as authority (rule) OXFORD BLDG. SERVICE v. Allen
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1986 · confidence medium
City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) p.f.r.d. 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Cuccarollo v. Gulf Coast Building Contractors
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1986 · confidence medium
We later reaffirmed this position in our construction of the 1983 amended statute in City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), pet. for rev. den. 458 So.2d 271 (Fla.1984), interpreting the amendment as “precluding an award of wage loss benefits when predicated solely on economic considerations unrelated to a claimant’s physical limitations by ordinary proximate cause standards.” (e.s.) Rumph emphasized that a claimant’s right to wage-loss under the statute did not depend on proof of “after-injury economic conditions.” Id. at 577.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Tampa Elec. Co. v. Bradshaw
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1985 · confidence medium
NOTES [1] This showing requires "evidence indicating that the compensable physical limitation is a contributing causative factor in the wage loss claimed." City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (e.s.).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Superior Pontiac v. Hearn
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1984 · confidence medium
City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Williams Roofing, Inc. v. Moore, 447 So.2d 968, 972 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited "see" Kerr Const., Inc. v. Peters Contracting, Inc.
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 2000 · signal: see · confidence high
See Terners of Miami Corp. v. Freshwater, 599 So.2d 674, 675 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) ("While the substantive rights of the parties in a workers' compensation case are determined by the law in effect at the time of the claimant's injury, this rule does not apply to procedural enactments.") (quoting City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 575 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), rev. denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla.1984)); Sullivan v. Mayo, 121 So.2d 424 (Fla.1960), cert. denied, 133 So.2d 647 (Fla.1961); Denver & Rio Grande W.
cited Cited "see" Gates Energy Products v. Wheeler
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1994 · signal: see · confidence high
See Kerce v. Coca-Cola — Foods Division, 389 So.2d 1177 (Fla.1980). 450 So.2d at 576 . .
cited Cited "see" Stoffel Plumbing, Inc. v. Smith
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1990 · signal: see · confidence high
See City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), pet. for rev. denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla.1984).
cited Cited "see" Monroe Furniture Co. v. Bonner
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1987 · signal: see · confidence high
See City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, 576 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited "see" Matter of George Hunt, Inc.
Bankr. M.D. Fla. · 1986 · signal: see · confidence high
See City of Clermont v. Rumph, supra. While there is hardly any doubt that his disability is permanent, albeit partial, and because of his injury he is no longer able to work in his previous trade, i.e. carpentry, painting or sandblasting, it is equally clear that he was able to work as a draftsman or as a job estimator during the spring of 1983.
cited Cited "see" Miller Trailers, Inc. v. Allen
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1985 · signal: see · confidence high
See City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), pet. for rev. denied 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984); Williams Roofing, Inc. v. Moore, 447 So.2d 968 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
discussed Cited "see, e.g." Bruce Fuller v. State (2×)
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 2018 · signal: see also · confidence medium
Id. at 464–66; see also City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So. 2d 573, 575 (Fla 1st DCA 1984) (finding change in employee’s burden of proof to be procedural and subject to retroactive application).
cited Cited "see, e.g." Attitudes & Trends v. Arsuaga
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1993 · signal: see, e.g. · confidence low
See e.g., City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA), rev. denied, 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984).
discussed Cited "see, e.g." Florida Community Health Center v. Ross
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1991 · signal: see also · confidence medium
See GCC Beverages v. Simmons, 571 So.2d 59 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (1990 amendment to section 440.15(3)(b)2. prescribing a minimum of five job contacts in each biweekly period *1039 was a substantive amendment which would not be applicable to an earlier injury); see also City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573, n. 4 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), petition for review denied 458 So.2d 271 (Fla. 1984) (even procedural burden of proof enactments may not be applicable to periods of claimed wage loss occurring prior to enactment's effective date).
cited Cited "see, e.g." Gill v. U.S. Agri-Chemicals
Fla. Dist. Ct. App. · 1990 · signal: see also · confidence low
See Regency Inn v. Johnson, 422 So.2d 870 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); see also City of Clermont v. Rumph, 450 So.2d 573 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
CITY OF CLERMONT and Aetna Insurance Company, Appellants,
v.
William RUMPH, Appellee.
AU-438.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
May 11, 1984.
450 So. 2d 573
Wentworth.
Cited by 58 opinions  |  Published

[*574] James M. Hess, of Driscoll, Langston & Kane, Orlando, for appellants.

Joseph E. Smith, of Hurt & Parrish, Bill McCabe, of Shepherd, McCabe & Cooley, Orlando, for appellee.

WENTWORTH, Judge.

Employer/carrier appeal a workers' compensation order and assert that a 1983 amendment to § 440.15(3)(b)2, Florida Statutes, precludes an award of wage loss benefits in this case. We affirm the order appealed.

Claimant is a 35 year old laborer who has worked as a garbage man and fruit picker, and who sustained an industrial accident in 1981 when his hand was caught in tractor machinery. The accident produced injury[*575] to two fingers, and the appeal does not question the existence of a resulting permanent impairment, required by the statute as a predicate for wage loss benefits, upon the attainment of maximum medical improvement in 1982. Claimant attempted to return to his former employment but was advised that his position had been filled and that no other job was available. He then made an unsuccessful job search for several months and sought wage loss benefits, which were controverted. After a hearing on the issue the deputy commissioner awarded benefits, and the order was affirmed on appeal. Claimant made a continuing job search, personally contacting a minimum of ten prospective employers each month.[1] In each instance he filled out a job application, and when requested admitted that he had sustained an industrial injury. Claimant testified that while he was not explicitly told by prospective employers why he was not hired, "once they found out about the injury" they would not employ him.

Despite his efforts claimant's job search was unsuccessful, and he therefore again requested wage loss benefits. Employer/carrier took the position at the hearing on July 25, 1983, that such benefits are precluded in this case by a 1983 amendment to § 440.15(3)(b)2, Florida Statutes. The deputy commissioner expressly rejected this defense and awarded the requested wage loss benefits for the months of January through June 1983.[2]

As enacted in 1979, § 440.15(3)(b)2 provided that "the burden shall be on the employee to establish that any wage-loss claimed is the result of the compensable injury." In 1983 the legislature amended this provision to further provide that:

It shall also be the burden of the employee to show that his inability to obtain employment or to earn as much as he earned at the time of his industrial accident, is due to physical limitation related to his accident and not because of economic conditions or the unavailability of employment.

Claimant asserts that this 1983 amendment so affects his substantive rights as to be inapplicable in the present case since his accident and injury preceded the amendment's effective date. While the substantive rights of the parties in a workers' compensation case are determined by the law in effect at the time of the claimant's injury, this rule does not apply to procedural enactments. See Sullivan v. Mayo, 121 So.2d 424 (Fla. 1960). In the present case we find the contested amendment to be a procedural burden-of-proof enactment, and the provision's applicability is therefore not governed by the date of claimant's accident and injury.[3]

To whatever extent the 1983 amendment applies in this case,[4] we conclude that claimant has satisfied the evidentiary burden which the amendment imposes. The contested provision was enacted at the next legislative session after this court's en banc decision in Regency Inn v.[*576] Johnson, 422 So.2d 870 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982),[5] which expressly held that:

... the unavailability of jobs due to economic conditions does not preclude recovery of wage loss benefits, and, accordingly, it is not necessary for a wage loss claimant to present evidence that his refusal for employment was not due to unavailability of jobs resulting from economic conditions... .

Employer/carrier argue that the 1983 amendment has effectively overruled Regency Inn, and precludes an award of wage loss benefits unless a claimant establishes that economic conditions do not affect his employability. In Regency Inn the employer/carrier suggested a similar construction of § 440.15(3)(b), as then enacted. In rejecting this argument the en banc court noted that:

... the employer/carrier's view is fundamentally flawed by its failure to take into account the aspect of `certainty' of recovery which is said to contribute to the constitutional validity of the workers' compensation system. Acton v. Ft. Lauderdale Hospital, 418 So.2d 1099 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)... .

The court further observed that such an approach would have the effect of withholding wage loss benefits in times of economic depression, thereby

... depriving those workers' compensation claimants of a remedy for work-related injuries, and seriously affecting, in our judgment, the rational balancing of the rights and interests of both employers and employees which is necessary to give validity to the wage loss concept. Acton v. Ft. Lauderdale Hospital... .

As Regency Inn thus indicates, in the present case employer/carrier's suggested construction of the 1983 amendment to § 440.15(3)(b) would seriously imperil the constitutional validity of the workers' compensation law. We are obliged to construe statutory pronouncements in such a manner as to effectuate their constitutionality. See Miami Dolphins Ltd. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 394 So.2d 981 (Fla. 1981). We are also obliged to adopt the statutory construction which is most favorable to the employee. See Kerce v. Coca-Cola — Foods Division, 389 So.2d 1177 (Fla. 1980). We therefore decline to adopt employer/carrier's suggested construction of the 1983 amendment to § 440.15(3)(b)2. We construe the amendment, instead, as precluding an award of wage loss benefits when predicated solely on economic considerations unrelated to a claimant's physical limitations by ordinary proximate cause standards. We further read the amendment as emphasizing the requirement that claimant shall present evidence indicating that the compensable physical limitation is a contributing causative factor in the wage loss claimed.

Claimant's initial burden under the amended language, therefore, is to present evidence, by job search when appropriate, which reasonably permits a conclusion that the compensable physical limitation was an element in the causal chain resulting in or contributing to the wage loss. The statute does not impose (and we do not consider the effect of such an attempt) any burden on claimant to show that the compensable impairment was the sole cause of wage loss, and we find no merit in appellant's argument that "it was incumbent on the claimant to produce live (sic) testimony to the effect that he was not hired as a result of his compensable injury." Nothing in the amendment requires such direct testimonial evidence, its terms relating instead to what shall be proven and not the method of proof. The cause of incapacity to earn may therefore, as in any other case, be shown by direct or circumstantial evidence, and we adhere to the conclusion in Regency, 422 So.2d 879, and note 9, that wage loss entitlement under the statute does not hinge on direct or[*577] affirmative proof of after-injury economic conditions. An unavailing work search, sufficiently extensive and intensive, by a permanently impaired worker such as the claimant in this case, may meet the statutory requirements for prima facie proof of connection with permanent physical limitation.[6]

In affirming the deputy's conclusion that the claimant in the present case met the burden which § 440.15(3)(b)2, as amended, imposes, we find that consideration was properly given to the fact that claimant's industrial injury displaced him from his employment; that the employer refused to rehire claimant;[7] and that claimant in good faith performed an extensive, but entirely unsuccessful, job search during which prospective employers were generally aware of claimant's physical condition. In this case, in addition, it has not been shown that claimant limited his income or declined appropriate employment.

In determining that claimant has met his initial burden of establishing that the claimed wage loss was causally related to his industrial injury and physical limitation, we are compelled to reiterate the observation of the en banc court in Regency Inn:

... it lies within the power of the participants in the workers' compensation system itself to avoid wage loss claims which might be considered unwarranted or excessive by concentrating their efforts on rehabilitation and reemployment of injured workers, rather than by aiming for technical interpretations by which it is hoped to defeat or diminish the recovery of benefits by the injured employee. [fn. omitted]

The order appealed is affirmed.

ZEHMER and BARFIELD, JJ., concur.

1 Claimant testified that he also checked the help-wanted ads in the newspaper, queried friends regarding work, made telephone contacts, and sought work through the State Employment Office.
2 The deputy found that:

The claimant testified at the hearing that he had not been told by employers during this period of wage loss benefits claimed as to why he was not hired. I find that the statutory requirement of causal connection was met even assuming that the claimant did not prove directly that jobs were available which he could not get because of physical limitations. I specifically find that the employer would not rehire the claimant.

3 Unlike the amendment in Peck v. Palm Beach County, 442 So.2d 1050 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), in the present case the new provision is not limited to injuries from accidents occurring after a specific date, but rather takes effect upon becoming law. See Chapter 83-305, § 21, Laws of Florida 1983.
4 We do not consider the further issue, not argued by the parties, as to whether the amendment should not apply because periods of claimed wage loss in this case occurred prior to the enactment's effective date.
5 The original panel opinion in Regency Inn contrasted the statutory language of § 440.15(3)(b)2, as then enacted, with that of § 440.15(1)(b), regarding causal relation, suggesting that the legislature is capable of imposing particular standards where such are intended. The en banc opinion in Regency Inn noted the "qualifications and limitations" expressed in § 440.15(3)(b)2, and declined to find that further standards were implied.
6 Cf., Camp & Sons v. Flynn, 450 So.2d 577 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), for an analogous construction of the permanent total disability entitlement standards. To the extent that either opinion in Regency implicitly approved wage loss based solely on accident-related economic dislocation, unaffected by residual impairment, i.e., but for the accident claimant would not have been unemployed — the opinion must of course be read in light of the amendment. The claim in the present case does not rest on that basis, and we need not consider the effect of proof, by whatever means, that a particular permanent impairment has no effect on a claimant's competitive market position.
7 As Regency Inn indicates, at footnote 7:

... the duration and amount of wage loss claimed of any injured employee will vary in direct proportion to the extent to which employers and carriers realistically accept the obligation to rehabilitate, if necessary, and to otherwise aid in the reemployment of the injured worker... .