The Fifth District then interpreted the applicability of these 1998 amendments to the conflict question by stating:
The language used by the legislature in its amendment to the Act indicates that the administrative judge is to determine all matters relative to a claim. Notably, the determination of the adequacy of notice is not excluded from the duties of the administrative law judge. Section 766.304 states that the administrative law judge shall hear all claims and shall exercise the full power and authority granted that is necessary to carry out the purposes of the section. The section further grants exclusive jurisdiction to the administrative law judge to determine whether a claim is compensable and precludes any civil action until the issue of compensability is determined. We believe that under these amendments, any issue raising the immunity of a health provider, including the issue of whether the health provider satisfied the notice requirements of the Plan is an issue to be decided by the administrative law judge as one which relates to the question of whether the claim is compensable under the Plan. We recognize that lack of proper notice does not affect a claimant's ability to obtain compensation from the Plan. However, a health provider who disputes a plaintiff's assertion of inadequate notice is raising the issue of whether a claim can only be compensated under the plan. All questions of compensability, including those which arise regarding the adequacy of notice, are properly decided in the administrative forum.
Our conclusion that the administrative forum is the intended exclusive forum to determine the notice question eliminates the â€
Description
In this consolidated case, court review two decisions of the Second District Court of Appeal: All Children's Hospital, Inc. v. Department of Administrative Hearings, 863 So. 2d 450 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), and Florida Birth Related Neurological Injury Compensation Ass'n v. Ferguson, 869 So. 2d 686 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). In each case, the Second District certified conflict with decisions from the Third, Fourth, and Fifth District Courts of Appeal on an issue regarding the subject matter jurisdiction of administrative law judges under the Florida Birth Related Neurological Injury Compensation Act as found in sections 766.301 through 766.316, Florida Statutes (1997 & Supp. 1998) (NICA). See Univ. of Miami v. M.A., 793 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001); Gugelmin v. Div. of Admin. Hearings, 815 So. 2d 764 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002); Behan v. Fla. Birth Related Neurological Injury Comp. Ass'n, 664 So. 2d 1173 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); O'Leary v. Fla. Birth-Related Neurological Injury Comp. Ass'n, 757 So. 2d 624 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000).1 Court frame the question in conflict as follows: Does an administrative law judge (ALJ), when considering a NICA claim, have jurisdiction to determine whether or not a health care provider has complied with the "notice to obstetrical patients of participation in the plan" as required by section 766.316 In the two cases before us, the Second District held that the NICA statute, as it existed prior to the 2003 amendment, did not give the ALJ any jurisdiction to determine this notice issue.2 The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Districts had reached the opposite conclusion; and, subsequent to the Second District's certification of conflict, the First District issued an opinion aligning itself with the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Districts. See Tabb v. Fla. Birth Related Neurological Injury Comp. Ass'n, 880 So. 2d 1253 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). As explained below, court hold that when notice is raised as part of a claim filed under NICA, an ALJ has jurisdiction to make findings regarding whether a health care provider has satisfied the "notice to obstetrical patients" requirement of section 766.316, Florida Statutes (Supp. 1998). In light of this holding, court quash the Second District's decision in All Children's Hospital, Inc. and remand that case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. However, because the conflict question has become moot in Ferguson, court dismiss that case.
