Having considered the parties’ timely responses to this court’s order to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed, we hereby dismiss the appeal as non-final and non-appealable under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.180. Although both parties assert that the order on appeal “adjudicates jurisdiction,” and thus falls under Rule 9.180(b)(1)(A), neither the order on appeal, nor Appellants’ Initial Brief, indicates a dispute exists concerning the Judge of Compensation Claims’ (JCC’s) jurisdiction over the parties, the subject matter of this workers’ compensation claim, or the case itself. Rather, the dispute at hand relates to a pretrial order striking a witness, in a case, pertaining to a subject matter and parties, over which the JCC undoubtedly has jurisdiction.
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Here, the JCC excluded from evidence the opinions of an expert medical advisor (EMA) based on his analysis of authority granted to him under the Workers’ Compensation Law. Appellants challenge the non-final order striking the original EMA and appointing a substitute, and assert that the JCC’s actions were impermissible and beyond the “jurisdiction” granted to him by the Legislature. Nevertheless, the allowance for this court’s review of non-final orders
adjudicating jurisdiction
under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.180(b)(1)(A) pertains to orders wherein the JCC’s jurisdiction over the parties, the subject matter, or the case is at issue and adjudicated — it does not serve as a means to facilitate an interlocutory appeal where there is no such dispute.
Compare Delgado v. J.C. Concrete,
Significantly, in this case, Appellants request as a remedy, not that the case be removed from the JCC for lack of jurisdiction, or that a party be released from the case based on an improper assertion of jurisdiction, but that the order be corrected and the case remanded
to the JCC
so that
he
may continue to preside over the merits of the case. If Rule 9.180(b)(l)(A)’s allowance for this court to review non-final orders which “adjudicate jurisdiction” were read so broadly so as to include any challenge to an order based on the propriety of a JCC’s pretrial rulings, then the prohibition against the appeal of a non-final order would be meaningless. And, consequently, all orders would be appeal-able upon a mere assertion of an improper exercise of statutory authority (couched in terms of “jurisdiction”) — which is, after all, the essence of any challenge to any ruling made by a JCC.
See, e.g., Millinger v. Broward County Mental Health Div.,
Although not requested by either party in their respective responses to this court’s order to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, we have considered whether this appeal of a nonfinal, nonappealable order can properly be treated as a petition for writ of certiorari.
See
Fla. R.App. P. 9.040(c) (“If a party seeks an improper remedy, the cause shall be treated as if the proper remedy had been sought; provided that it shall not be the responsibility of the court to seek the proper remedy.”). Because here, the initial EMA has rendered a report making manifest his opinions on the
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issue in dispute, any error committed by the JCC, in striking this expert and appointing another, can be remedied by plenary appeal after the entry of a final order.
See Taylor v. TGI Friday’s,
Accordingly, this appeal is DISMISSED.
