August 18, 2023
Workplace shootings, more common than ever now, may happen in the course and scope of employment. But do they have to be work-related to make the victims eligible for workers’ compensation benefits?
That’s the question that a Florida appeals court wants the state Supreme Court to answer in a closely watched case that, potentially, could overturn years of precedent.
In Normandy Insurance Co. vs. Mohammed Bouayad and Value Car Rental, a panel of Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals on Wednesday set aside an administrative law judge’s award of benefits to the claimant. But the panel also took the unusual step of asking the high court to answer a question of great public importance: “When an act of a third-party tortfeasor is the sole cause of an injury to an employee who is in the course and scope of employment, can the tortfeasor’s act satisfy the occupational causation element … necessary for compensability?”
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