Ditchmen • NUCA of Florida Ditchmen • March 2017 | Page 15

subjecting businesses to
a tug-of-war between the
Legislature and the Judiciary.”
The legislation converts
Florida to a loss cost state,
similar to 38 other states that
allow a rating or advisory
organization to file the
rates that are projected
to cover losses. Under
this system, insurers are
required to file separately
the remaining components
of the rates needed to cover
expenses and profit, known
as loss costs multipliers,
encouraging competition
among insurers for the
remaining components.
Attorney fees continue to
be a major driver for rate
increases and an effort to
rein in those fees by the
Legislature was overturned
by the Florida Supreme
Court in a 5-2 ruling last year.
Therefore, the legislation
retains the statutory fee
schedule for setting claimant
attorney’s fees but directs
the JCC to consider factors
in each case and allows the
JCC to decrease or increase
the attorney fee subject to a
maximum hourly rate of $250.
The legislation also provides
that an insurer’s defense and
cost containment expenses
are excessive if they exceed
15 percent of the insurer’s
incurred losses for the
average of the three most
recent calendar years. Each
insurer must return amounts
over 15 percent DCCE to
employers via either a cash
refund or credit toward the
future purchase of insurance.
For more information, please
visit www.FLSenate.gov.
• • •
MARCH 2017 • DITCHMEN
15