Kestel v. City of Cocoa

This workers’ compensation appeal poses the question of whether the 120-day pay-and-investigate provision set forth in section 440.20(4), Florida Statutes (Supp. 1998), applies to a situation in which the claimant has a preexisting compensable injury that is exacerbated or aggravated by work duties. The judge of compensation claims (JCC) concluded that the statutory provision was inapplicable, because claimant had suffered an exacerbation of a prior compensable injury, not a new compensa-ble accident, as claimant had contended, and all benefits to which claimant was entitled had been…