It is paramount that a legal practitioner and adjuster be able to determine whether a petition for benefits was timely filed, or if the petition for benefits falls outside the time limit for filing. Previously, the general rule was that a claimant had two years from the date of the accident or one year from the last provision of benefits, whichever is later, to file a Petition for Benefits in Florida. Currently, Florida’s statute of limitations for workers’ compensation cases is codified at F.S. 440.19 (1) and (2).

Michael O’Donnell, associate with Vaughan McLean. Courtesy photo

In 2023 a Florida court decided to modify the well-established rule in the case of Ortiz v. Winn-Dixie, Inc. 361 So. 3d 889 (Fla. 1st DCA (2023). In Ortiz, the court determined that the previous two-year limitations period, which was previously not subject to tolling, could be tolled. The application of this new legal standard tended to be problematic for practitioners and adjusters alike as it was not entirely clear how to apply the new two-year tolling period on a case-by-case basis. When the statute of limitation issues were analyzed at trial by the judges the resulting rulings did not always appear entirely consistent with one another. Thankfully, in the recent decision of American Airlines Grp. v. Lopez (1D2023-0379) the First District Court of Appeals has decided to retreat from the Ortiz decision in favor of applying a traditional statutory of limitations analysis.