Jones v. ETS of New Orleans, Inc.

793 So. 2d 912, 26 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 549, 2001 Fla. LEXIS 1695, 2001 WL 987324
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedAugust 30, 2001
DocketSC96287
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 793 So. 2d 912 (Jones v. ETS of New Orleans, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. ETS of New Orleans, Inc., 793 So. 2d 912, 26 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 549, 2001 Fla. LEXIS 1695, 2001 WL 987324 (Fla. 2001).

Opinion

793 So.2d 912 (2001)

Brian JONES, et ux., Petitioners,
v.
ETS OF NEW ORLEANS, INC., Respondent.

No. SC96287.

Supreme Court of Florida.

August 30, 2001.

*913 L. Barry Keyfetz of Keyfetz, Asnis & Srebnick, P.A., Miami, FL, and Gerald R. Herms, Tampa, FL, for Petitioners.

Robert A. LeVine of Newman, LeVine & Metzler, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Respondent.

Joseph H. Williams of Troutman, Williams, Irvin, Green & Helms, P.A., Winter Park, FL, for The Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.

PARIENTE, J.

We have for review the Second District Court of Appeal's decision in ETS of New Orleans, Inc. v. Jones, 738 So.2d 958 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999), which expressly and directly conflicts with the opinion of this Court in Baughman v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 78 So.2d 694 (Fla.1955). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. Because we conclude that the term "court costs" as used for purposes of calculating equitable distribution of workers' compensation liens is not limited to "taxable costs," we quash the Second District's decision.

FACTS

Brian Jones, the claimant in this workers' compensation case, was employed by Ed Smith Steel Erectors, Inc. While on the jobsite, Jones had to walk along the eight-inch-wide top of a partially constructed concrete block wall, through which a four-foot-high segment of PVC pipe protruded. The pipe had been installed by Lawhorn Plumbing, which was another subcontractor on the project. As Jones grabbed the pipe (which was two inches in diameter) to swing around it, the pipe broke and Jones fell eighteen feet to the concrete floor below. As a result of this fall, Jones suffered compression fractures and a broken ankle. His permanent injuries resulted in a whole person disability rating of twenty-two percent.

At the time of Jones' accident, ETS of New Orleans ("ETS") provided the workers' compensation insurance for Jones' employer. ETS eventually paid Jones $124,460.12 in workers' compensation benefits. Later, however, Jones filed a third-party tort claim against Lawhorn Plumbing for damages allegedly resulting from its negligence. ETS filed a workers' compensation lien in that suit. Jones and Lawhorn Plumbing ultimately settled for $50,000, and Jones then filed a petition in circuit court for equitable distribution of the settlement proceeds in order to satisfy ETS's workers' compensation lien. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court awarded ETS $5,102.86.

On appeal to the Second District, ETS asserted, among other things, that the trial court overstated the amount of costs that Jones was entitled to subtract from his settlement before determining the pro rata share of the award that ETS would receive.[1]See id. at 959. In particular, ETS *914 argued that the trial court improperly included in its final order of equitable distribution all costs incurred by Jones rather than only taxable costs. The Second District agreed with ETS, concluding that the term "court costs" within the meaning of section 440.39(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1997), means "taxable costs" instead of "all costs." See ETS, 738 So.2d at 959. Accordingly, the Second District reversed and remanded on this issue. See id. at 960.

ANALYSIS

The question before us in this case is a narrow one: whether under section 440.39(3)(a), the term "court costs" means "taxable costs" or whether that term means "all costs" incurred by the employee in preparing the claim against the third party, subject to the determination that the costs are reasonable. Jones maintains that the Second District erred in restricting costs to only taxable costs.

Section 440.39(3)(a), Florida Statutes provides in pertinent part as follows:

Upon suit being filed, the employer or the insurance carrier ... may file in the suit a notice of payment of compensation and medical benefits to the employee or his dependents, which notice shall constitute a lien upon any judgment or settlement recovered to the extent that the court may determine to be their pro rata share for compensation and medical benefits paid or to be paid under the provisions of this law, less their pro rata share of all court costs expended by the plaintiff in the prosecution of the suit including reasonable attorney's fees for the plaintiff's attorney. In determining the employer's or carrier's pro rata share of those costs and attorney's fees, the employer or carrier shall have deducted from its recovery a percentage amount equal to the percentage of the judgment or settlement which is for costs and attorney's fees. Subject to this deduction, the employer or carrier shall recover from the judgment or settlement, after costs and attorney's fees incurred by the employee or dependent in that suit have been deducted, 100 percent of what it has paid and future benefits to be paid, except, if the employee or dependent can demonstrate to the court that he did not recover the full value of damages sustained, the employer or carrier shall recover from the judgment or settlement, after costs and attorney's fees incurred by the employee or dependent in that suit have been deducted, a percentage of what it has paid and future benefits to be paid equal to the percentage that the employee's net recovery is of the full value of the employee's damages; provided, the failure by the employer or carrier to comply with the duty to cooperate imposed by subsection (7) may be taken into account by the trial court in determining the amount of the employer's or carrier's recovery, and such recovery may be reduced, as the court deems equitable and appropriate under the circumstances....

(Emphasis supplied.) This portion of the statute has remained unchanged since 1989.

Because "workers' compensation benefits are a creature of statute," our analysis of the meaning of court costs "must be based on statutory interpretation guided by this Court's prior case law interpreting the applicable statutes." City of Hollywood v. Lombardi, 770 So.2d 1196, 1200 (Fla.2000). A basic tenet of statutory interpretation is that a "statute should be interpreted to give effect to every clause in *915 it, and to accord meaning and harmony to all of its parts." Acosta v. Richter, 671 So.2d 149, 153-54 (Fla.1996). Accordingly, "statutory phrases are not to be read in isolation, but rather within the context of the entire section." Id. at 154. In other words, "[j]ust as a single word cannot be read in isolation, nor can a single provision of a statute.... A provision that may seem ambiguous in isolation is often clarified by the remainder of the statutory scheme." Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223, 233, 113 S.Ct. 2050, 124 L.Ed.2d 138 (1993).

When all of the parts of section 440.39(3)(a) are considered together, the construction that is most consistent with the statutory language is that the term "all court costs" means "all costs," rather than merely taxable costs as the Second District concluded. Although "court costs" is not defined within section 440.39(3)(a), the term is used interchangeably within the same subsection with "costs." In addition, the statute specifically refers to "all court costs expended by the plaintiff" and "costs... incurred by the employee." These expansive provisions for costs are consistent with the interpretation of the term meaning "all costs."

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
793 So. 2d 912, 26 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 549, 2001 Fla. LEXIS 1695, 2001 WL 987324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-ets-of-new-orleans-inc-fla-2001.