Case Name: PUBLIC STORAGE and Hartford Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Esmeralda GALANO, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2005-02-01
Citations: 894 So. 2d 287
Docket Number: No. 1D04-1269
Parties: PUBLIC STORAGE and Hartford Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Esmeralda GALANO, Appellee.
Judges: WOLF, C.J., KAHN, and POLSTON, JJ., Concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 894
Pages: 287–288

Head Matter:
PUBLIC STORAGE and Hartford Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Esmeralda GALANO, Appellee.
No. 1D04-1269.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Feb. 1, 2005.
Rehearing Denied March 2, 2005.
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.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
In this case, the trial court correctly found that appellants failed to deny com-pensability 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.