Ternes v. AFP Management Corp. / MEMIC

HR Law Cases
JCC Kerr (Miami) (Andy Borah for the E/C)(7-1-21) – Denied claimant’s amendment to Pretrial Stipulation, TPD benefits, attorney’s fees, and costs. The claimant argued that the claim for “Penalties and Interest: P&I for TP from March 1, 2020 through December 21, 2020” was scrivener’s error and sought to amend the pretrial claim at Final Hearing to a claim for TPD from 3/23/2020 to 12/20/2020 plus penalties and interest. The claimant argued that the parties tried the issue by consent and the claim was contained within the PFB, therefore the E/C was on notice and not prejudiced by the amendment. The E/C objected to the amendment as it was filed within 30 days of the Final Hearing, raised a new claim that was not within the pretrial stipulation, and that the claimant never filed a Motion to Amend the Pretrial Stipulation, which resulted in prejudice to the E/C as it relied on the claims as they were listed in the original pretrial stipulation to prepare its position for Final Hearing. The JCC determined that the claimant did raise a new claim that was not listed within the pretrial stipulation and failed to show good cause sufficient to allow the amendment. Additionally, after hearing testimony from the claimant, adjuster, and employer representative, the JCC determined the claimant was not entitled to TPD benefits for the period being requested as the claimant’s loss of earnings were related to the claimant’s furlough due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and not the industrial accident.
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