Hamm ex rel. Hamm v. PMI Employee Leasing
Hamm ex rel. Hamm v. PMI Employee Leasing
Opinion of the Court
In this workers’ compensation case, the minor child of the decedent employee challenges an order from the Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) denying her death benefits payable under section 440.16, Florida Statutes (2012). The Employer/Carrier (E/C) here accepted the employee’s death as a compensable workplace injury and subsequently filed an emergency motion seeking to determine the beneficiaries of death benefits. No petition for benefits (PFB) or other claim for benefits was pending when the E/C filed its motion. Because we conclude the JCC lacked jurisdiction to address the E/C’s motion, we quash the order on appeal and remand with directions that the motion be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See Polk County v. Sofka, 702 So.2d 1243, 1245 (Fla. 1997) (holding “‘the parties cannot stipulate to jurisdiction over the subject matter where none exists,’ and ‘[cjourts are bound to take notice of the limits of their authority and if want of jurisdiction appears at any state of the proceedings, original or appellate, the court should notice the defect and enter an appropriate order’ ” (citations omitted)).
This court has previously reversed findings of fraud under section 440.105(4)(b), Florida Statutes, holding that a JCC has no jurisdiction over this
Because we conclude the JCC did not have jurisdiction, we cannot reach the question of whether she erred when she concluded the natural minor child of the decedent is not entitled to death benefits due to a failure to prove dependency upon the decedent. We QUASH the order of the JCC and REMAND with directions that the JCC dismiss the motion for lack of jurisdiction.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.