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Romine v. Florida Birth Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association2/14/2003
workers' compensation statutes provide us with guidance. Fla. Birth-Related Neurological Injury Comp. Ass'n v. Carreras, 633 So. 2d 1103, 1107 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994) (the NICA's no-fault system "is one comparable to the workers' compensation system"). The general rule in workers' compensation cases is that the substantive rights of the parties are fixed by the law in effect on the date of the injury, but that no party has a vested right in any particular procedure. Consequently, procedural amendments may be applied retroactively. McCarthy v. Bay Area Signs, 639 So. 2d 1114, 1115-16 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). Under NICA, an injured infant or his personal representative may seek compensation under NICA by filing a claim for compensation with the DOAH within five years of the infant's birth. See ยงยง 766.302(3), 766.305(1), & 766.313, Fla. Stat. (1998). The date of the child's birth and the injuries sustained at that birth, if any, establish the right of the infant to receive NICA benefits and the scope of those benefits. Thus, we conclude that the Romines had a substantive, vested right the day Loren was born, because they had "a present, fixed right of future enjoyment" to receive NICA benefits if she was otherwise qualified to receive such benefits. See Brevda, 420 So. 2d at 891. We conclude that the amendment is more than a mere change in procedure; rather, it changes the right itself. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the ALJ erred in applying the 1998 amendment to section 766.304, Florida Statutes (1998), to bar the Romines' claim. We remand this matter to the DOAH for further proceedings consistent herewith.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
SHARP, W. and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.
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