FLORIDA BIRTH-RELATED NEUROLOGICAL INJURY COMPENSATION vs. FLORIDA Part I
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.
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