Item C44
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: 3/20/02
Division: Management Services
Bulk Item: Yes x No
Department: Human Resources
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Board of County Co~issioner's approval of workers' compensation attorney fees and costs in the
amount of $56,596.41.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
Per the attached letter from the Workers' Compensation attorney for the County, the full attorney fee
award will be appealed. Our attorney is recommending that we pay the statutory fee in the interim.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
None
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
Approval
TOTAL COST: $ 56,596.41
BUDGETED: Yes X
No
COST TO COUNTY: $ 56,596.41 .,
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
No X
AMOUNT PER MONTH
Year
APPROVED BY: County Atty _ OMB/Purchasing _ Risk Management_
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL: ~ ----./~al
- James L. Roberts, County Administrator
DOCUMENTATION:
Included X
To Follow
Not Required
AGENDA ITEM # c-- yY
DISPOSITION:
Revised 2/27/0 I
LAW OFFICES
Kelley, Kronenberg, Gilmartin, Fichtel & Wander, EA.
STEVEN P. KRONENBERG
KAREN M. GILMARTIN
MICHAEL J. FICHTEL
HOWARD L. WANDER
ROBERT L. BAMDAS
VIVIANNE A. WICKER
HEATH S. ESKALYO
TIMOTHY A. DUNBRACK
JUAN A. AGUEDA
LEE A. AMENTO
GAIL DIAMOND BAKER
BRUCE B. BALDWIN
CARLTON A. BOBER
DAVID R. DRILL
LUIS F. ESTRADA
DAVID S. FABRIKANT
LISA A. FARREL
ERNESTO DE LA FE
LIZZETTE M. FRANCISCO
JEFFREY M. FRIEDMAN
KEVIN R. GLICK
RAYMOND L. GRANT
DAVID M. HAVLICEK
TRACIE L. PHILUPS-HOPKINS
ROBERT H. KREBS
JUAN C. LAUREANO
CHERI R. LAZAR
MICHELE M. LEACH
THOMAS A. MARCHESE
DOUGLAS A. ORR
THOMAS W. PARADISE
BARBARA L. PORTER
JAMIE S. POZO
DORICIA M. RIVAS
LAWRENCE E. ROOT
KENNETH B. SCHWARTZ
CHARLES TOLEDO
MELISSA J. WALDINGER
CHARLES E. KELLEY
(OF COUNSEL)
8201 PETERS ROAD
SUITE 4000
Fort lAuderdak, Florida 33324
TELIlPHONE (954) 370-9970
DADE (305) 940-270'
WPB (58') 887-4224
FAX (9!54) 382-1988
PLAZA ROYALE SUITE 204
15600 NORTHWEST 87TH AVENUE
Miami Lakes, Florida 33014
TELIlPHONE (305) 826-7280
BROWARD LINE (954) 522-5991
FAX (305) 826'()936
1400 CENTREPARK BOULEVARD
SUITE 200
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401
TELIlPHONE (56') 684-5956
BROWARD LINE (954) 78'-8554
FAX (561) 684-5753
FIRST UNION TOWER
SUITE 1 IOS
20 NORTH ORANGE AVENUE
Orlando, Florida 32801
TELEPHONE (407) 848-9450
F~X (407) 548-4187
2080 MCGREGOR BOULEVARD
SUITE 201
Ft. Myers, Florida 33901
TIlLEPHONE (94') 332-0283
FAX (941) 332.()520
March 5, 2002
REPLY TO:
Miami Lakes
Ms. Nancy Cohen
:Monroe County Board of County Commissioners
1100 Simonton Street
Suite 2274
Key West, FL 33040
Re:
Monroe
County Board of
v.
Commissioners
C}_ai'll No:
D/A:
Our File No:
377-76-5530
6/11/1998
998748-LFE
Dear Ms. Cohen:
County
As you know we received the orders on the attorney's fees in
the aforementioned claim. As we discussed it appears that we
may have an appealable issue regarding the way the JCC
established the amount of benefits opposing counsel obtained
for the claimant.
The JCC did not receive any evidence of the future orthopedic,
psychiatric, neurologic or other medical benefits. However,
she estimated these would be $33,397.68. I believe the JCC had
sufficient evidence to determine the sum of the present value
of claimant's permanent total benefits and attendant care
was $466,602.32. I intend to research the viability of an
appeal as to the insufficiency of evidence and any other issue
that may come to light.
The statutory fee on $466,602.32 is $47,410.20. It may be
prudent to pay the statutory fee of $47,410 even if we take an
appeal. We should also pay the cost of $9,186.21 ($8724.45 to
Ms. Sutton and $61.76 to Mr. Deutsch). This way, if we do not
prevail on appeal we will owe interest only on the remaining
$35,489.80. Assuming chat the appeal takes one year, the
interest on this amount would be $4,258.78
LFE/lfe
cc: Ms. Sheila
Solutions
Braga,
(9641256)
Governmental
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