Salatiel Velazquez Hernandez v. J. Sterling Quality Roofing, Inc., D/B/A Sterling Roofing/Summit
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledOctober 21, 2020
Docket1D20-1208
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
No. 1D20-1208
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SALATIEL VELAZQUEZ
HERNANDEZ,
Petitioner,
v.
J. STERLING QUALITY ROOFING,
INC., d/b/a STERLING
ROOFING/SUMMIT,
Respondent.
_____________________________
Petition for Writ of Certiorari—Original Jurisdiction.
Date of Accident: July 20, 2017.
October 21, 2020
PER CURIAM.
Claimant in this workers’ compensation case petitions the
Court for a writ of certiorari, or alternately, for a writ of quo
warranto or mandamus, as relief from an order dismissing two
petitions for benefits (PFBs) without prejudice. We find that
Claimant has not shown irreparable harm resulting from this
dismissal and therefore dismiss the petition on jurisdictional
grounds. We also find that the extraordinary remedies of quo
warranto and mandamus do not lie.
Claimant, however, has also asked this Court to consider
whether this dispute, at least in part, should be treated as an
appeal. In the dismissal order, the Judge of Compensation Claims
(JCC) ruled that he lacked jurisdiction over the PFB filed on
January 8, 2020, based on his finding that the claimed benefits
there are the same attendant care benefits he awarded in a prior
final order currently on appeal and cross-appeal in J. Sterling
Quality Roofing, Inc., d/b/a Sterling Roofing/Summit Holdings v.
Salatiel Velazquez Hernandez; case number 1D19-4391. We agree
that the portion of the order dismissing the January 8, 2020, PFB
is an appealable nonfinal order adjudicating jurisdiction under
Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.180(b)(1)(A). However,
because we conclude that the JCC correctly found that the pending
appeal/cross-appeal divested his jurisdiction over this PFB, we
affirm.
In the prior final order, the JCC awarded some attendant care
benefits and denied others without prejudice. In denying those
claims, the JCC also ruled that a new prescription may create a
new claim. Claimant disputes the JCC’s finding that the attendant
care at issue here is the same as the care previously awarded, but
at the same time asserts the right to file a new claim with a new
prescription in accordance with the JCC’s prior ruling. Even
assuming Claimant has now presented a new claim, he chose to
cross-appeal the JCC’s prior attendant care adjudication that
allowed the filing of a new claim, but then filed a new claim
nonetheless. Thus, the JCC did not err when he ruled that he did
not have jurisdiction over the benefits claimed in the January 8,
2020, PFB. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.180(c)(1) (stating that “[t]he lower
tribunal retains jurisdiction to decide the issues that have not been
adjudicated and are not the subject of pending appellate review”).
Accordingly, the petition is DISMISSED and the JCC’s
dismissal of the January 8, 2020, PFB, appealed as a nonfinal
order adjudicating jurisdiction, is AFFIRMED.
RAY, C.J., and BILBREY and JAY, JJ., concur.
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_____________________________
Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
_____________________________
James Richard Parris of Parris & Papa, P.A., Jacksonville, and
Wendy S. Loquasto of Fox & Loquasto, LLC, Tallahassee, for
Petitioner.
H. George Kagan of H. George Kagan, P.A., Gulf Stream, for
Respondent.
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