Employer Entitled to Costs Even Though it Did Not Plead Entitlement
One of the many changes enacted by the 2003 legislature was an amendment to §440.34(3), Fla. Stat., which, for the first time, allowed an employer/carrier to recover its litigation costs from an unsuccessful claimant. Must the employer/carrier specifically plead entitlement to costs in the pretrial stipulation in order to recover them? No, said the First DCA in F.A. Richard and Associates v. Fernandez, reversing the JCC's conclusion to the contrary.
