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Item C50 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 09/18/02 Division: Management Services Bulk Item: Yes x No Department: Human Resources - - AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Board of County Commissioner's approval of an additional attorney's fee in the amount of$35,489.89, for workers' compensation settlement of claim number 998748-LFE. ITEM BACKGROUND: Attorney's fees in the amount of $56,596.41 were approved at the Board of County Commissioner's meeting of 3/20/02. The original attorney fee in the amount of $82,900.00 along with costs in the amount of $9,186.21 was being appealed by the worker's compensation attorney for the County. Since the BOCC at their 7/17/02 meeting approved the workers' compensation claim settlement, the excess carrier and the workers' compensation attorney for the County have recommended that the appeal be withdrawn. This claim has gone into excess and per the Third Party Administrator for the County, approximately $151,000.00 will be refunded by the excess carrier. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: None CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: N/A ST AFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Approval TOTAL COST: $ 35,489.89 BUDGETED: Yes X No - COST TO COUNTY: $ 35,489.89 REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes No X AMOUNT PER MONTH Year - - -- APPROVED BY: County Atty _ OMB/Purchasing _ Risk Management _ DIVISION D1RECTORAPPROVAL:M~ James L. Roberts, County Administrator DOCUMENT A TION: Included X To Follow Not Required - DISPOSITION: AGENDA ITEM # C 5Gl I Revised 2/27/01 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 3/20102 Division: Management Services Bulk Item: Yes x No Department: Human Resources - - AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Board of County Commissioner'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 APPROV AL: cAV J~:":~l James L. Roberts, County Administrator DOCUMENT A TION: lncl uded X To Follow Not Required DISPOSITION: AGENDA ITEM # Revised 2/27/01 Lf2~ J~I....:J::-..J {d{~r-"/ [~2/~~i'L;J:: 3~;0Cr- &r (/~_ /L.7.l7J . ~ LAW OFFICES Kelley, Kronenberg, Gilmartin, Fichtel & Wander, EA. STEVEN P. KRONENBERG KAREN M. GILMARTIN March 5 2002 MICHAEL J. FICHTEL ' HOWARD L. WANDER ROBERT L. BAMDAS REPLY TO: VIVIANNE A. WICKER . I HEATH S. ESKALYO MJ.amJ. Lakes TIMOTHY A. DUNBRACK JUAN A. AGUEDA LEE A. AMENTO GAIL DIAMOND BAKER Ms. Nancy Cohen BRUCE B. BALDWIN . . CARLTON A. BOBER Monroe County Board of County Comm~ss~oners DAVID R. DRILL 1100 Simonton Street LUIS F. ESTRADA . DAVID S. FABRIKANT Su~te 2274 LISA A. FARREL Key West FL 33040 ERNESTO DE LA FE ' , LI=ETTE M. FRANCISCO JEFFREY M. FRIEDMAN Re: v. Monroe County Board of County KEVIN R. GLICK C . . RAYMOND L. GRANT omm~ss~oners DAVID M. HAVLICEK CJ.ai'll No: TRACIE L. PHILLIPS-HOPKINS D /A . 6/11/1998 ROBERT H. KREBS . JUANC.LAUREANO Our File No: 998748-LFE CHERI R. LAZAR MICHELE M. LEACH THOMAS A. MARCHESE Dear Ms. Cohen: DOUGLAS A. ORR THOMAS W. PARADISE. . BARBARA L. PORTER As you know we rece~ved the orders on the attorney's fees ~n JAMIE s. POzo the aforementioned claim. As we discussed it appears that we OORICIA M. RIVAS .. LAWRENCE E. ROOT may have an appealable ~ssue regard~ng the way the JCC KENNETH B. SCHWARTZ established the amount of benefits opposing counsel obtained CHARLES TOLEDO f h l' MELISSA J. WALDINGER or t e c a~mant. CHARLES E. KELLEY The JCC did not receive any evidence of the future orthopedic, (OF COUNSEL) h " l' h d . 1 . psyc ~atr~c, neuro og~c or ot er me ~ca benef~ts. 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. 8201 PETERS ROAD The statutory lee on $466,602.32 is $47,410.20. It may be SUITE 4000 prudent to pay the statutory fee of $47,410 even if we take an Fort Lauderdtde, Florida 33324 appeal. We should also pay the cost of $9,186.21 ($8724.45 to TELEPHONE (954) 370-9970 d $ - )' . DADE (305) 940-Z701 an 61.76 to r _ Th~s way, ~f we do not WP8 (561) 687-4224 prevail on appeal we will owe interest only on the remaining FAX (954) 382-1988 $35,489.80. Assuming chat the appeal takes one year, the PLAZA ROYALE SUITE 204 interest on this amount would be $4,258.78 15600 NORTHWEST 67TH AVENUE Miami Lakell, Florida 33014 TELEPHONE (305) 826-7260 8ROWARD LINE (954) 522-5991 FAX (30S) 826-0936 1400 CENTREPARK BOULEVARD SUITE 200 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 TELEPHONE (561) 684-5956 8ROWARD LINE (954) 761-8554 FAX (S6ll 684-5753 LFE/lfe FIRST UNION TOWER CC: Ms. Sheila Braga, Governmental Claims SUITE 1108 Solutions (9641256) ._ ..-" 20 NORTH ORANGE AVENUE -' --,. ::..-7-0~~i' . -<:' . ._. (._~ . d' " Orlando, Florida 32801 ' !">: c',; ':::'7 :.~_. , TELEPHONE (407) 648.9450 " ," i : FAX (407) 648-4' 67 : \ - i \ U^D - 1 12.002. "@"Ji 2080 McGREGOR BOULEVARD " \ (l1MI\ \11 SUITE 201 , ,'. \ 11 Ft. Myers, Florida 33901Lj UL- TELEPHONE (941) 332-0283 FAX (941) 332-0520 --'