The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to take up a battle about workers’ compensation insurance benefits for the general manager of an Orlando rental-car agency who was shot while on the job. The court said Wednesday it will hear the case after a panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal last year rejected benefits for Mohammed Bouayad, saying he had not shown a “causal link” between the injuries he suffered and the work he performed for Value Car Rental.
The Supreme Court did not immediately set a date for arguments. Bouayad was walking between the Holiday Inn Orlando-International Airport hotel, where a rental-car kiosk was located, and an office in a separate building on June 28, 2019, when he was shot seven times at close range, according to the appeals-court decision.
He was not robbed, and Value’s insurer, Normandy Insurance Co., denied he was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. At least in part, Normandy pointed to a confrontation the day before the shooting between a man and Bouayad’s wife and son over an alleged debt.