PUBLIC STORAGE and HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY v. ESMERALDA GALANO
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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA PUBLIC STORAGE and HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY, NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED Appellants, v. CASE NO. 1D04-1269 ESMERALDA GALANO, Appellee. _____________________________/ Opinion filed February 1, 2005. An appeal from an order of the Judge of Compensation Claims. Mily Rodriguez Powell, Judge. Robert L. Teitler and Warren Brown of Walton Lantaff Schroeder & Carson, LLP, Miami, for Appellants. Martha D. Fornaris, Coral Gables, and Bill McCabe, Longwood, for Appellee. PER CURIAM. In this case, the trial court correctly found that appellants failed to deny compensability of appellee s workplace injury within 120 days after the initial provision of benefits. § 440.20(4), Fla. Stat. (2002). Accordingly, appellants waived the right to deny compensability. See Hutchinson v. Lykes Smithfield Packing, 870 So. 2d 144 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). Where the employer/carrier seeks relief from the harshness of the 120-day pay and investigate provision, the burden is on the employer/carrier to demonstrate material facts relevant to the issue of compensability that it could not have discovered through reasonable investigation within the 120-day period. § 440.20(4), Fla. Stat. (2002). Neither in the pretrial stipulation, nor elsewhere, did appellants assert entitlement to relief from the 120-day rule, nor would competent substantial evidence in this record support such relief. AFFIRMED. WOLF, C.J., KAHN, and POLSTON, JJ., CONCUR.
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