A Florida appeals court has overturned a workers’ compensation judge’s decision denying benefits to a rest area attendant who was injured when a toxic mixture of cleaning agents exploded in her face.
In a decision Wednesday, the District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, overturned a ruling by a corporate judge who found that a claim filed by Cynthia Churchill did not warrant compensation because the incident did not result in an injury caused by exposure to a toxic substance.
Churchill was injured on November 1, 2020, when the cleaning materials she was using mixed to form a chemical reaction and exploded in her face, causing respiratory, eye and other injuries. She claimed it was not a toxic exposure but rather a general workplace accident.
Her employer, DBI Services LLC, reported the claim to insurance company CorVel Corp. and an adjuster initially accepted the claim as compensation, but Churchill learned two months later that the claim was being investigated and that the initial approval was conditional.
The insurer later contested the claim.
The appeals court said the employer and insurer did not follow the time frame requirements of a statutory provision called “pay and investigate”
;, which allows temporary compensation for a claim while the case is investigated, and ruled that the 59-day period between the first payment of the claim and notification that it would rejected was too far.The court overturned the comp judge’s decision and remanded the case with instructions that the claim should be treated as compensable. The comp judge was also ordered to review other aspects of the claim, such as attorney’s fees.
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