October 19, 2023

California Compensation Cases October 2023

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 88, No. 10 October 2023 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE LexisNexis Online Subscribers: You can link to your account on Lexis+ to read the complete headnotes and court decisions, en banc decisions, writ denied summaries...

October 10, 2023

California: Head Contusion’s Effect Makes Pre-Existing Brain Tumor Compensable

By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board Perhaps the title has piqued your curiosity, and you decide to take a second glance. No, you aren’t reading some newsstand tabloid; you are reading LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter. How might a simple head contusion be linked to an anaplastic meningioma so that the...

October 04, 2023

Updated Findings: Long COVID in the Workers’ Compensation System

By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board A January 2023 issue of the Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter discussed the findings of the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute’s (WCRI) study, “ Long COVID in the Workers’ Compensation System Early in the Pandemic” (Bogdan Savych, WC-23-16, January...

September 28, 2023

California: Guardian Ad Litem After Applicant Reaches Age of Majority

Here's an interesting Board panel decision about a long-standing guardian ad litem who continued to represent the applicant after that party reached the age of majority. The WCAB said that the guardian ad litem could continue to represent the applicant as a non-attorney representative as long as proper notice was given. Below is the LexisNexis headnote for the panel decision in Theus v. Melody Express. CA - NOTEWORTHY...

September 25, 2023

CWCI Examines 10-year California Workers’ Comp Payment Trends

Oakland – A new California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) study finds that average paid losses on California workers’ compensation lost-time claims fell immediately after legislative reforms (SB 863) took effect a decade ago, but then gradually increased up until the pandemic hit, so average paid losses on claims at all valuation points within 60 months of injury are above their post-reform lows...

September 21, 2023

2023 Edition of Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis (LexisNexis)

By Thomas A. Robinson, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis (LexisNexis) As we move through the third decade of the twenty-first century, the United States remains a land of contradictions. On the one hand, we have breathtaking mountains, sweeping shorelines, and landscapes of natural beauty. We enjoy cities and towns with beautiful neighborhoods and cityscapes. We have rural stretches...

September 21, 2023

RAND Releases Study on Alternative Payment Models for California’s Workers’ Compensation System

By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board Industrially injured workers in California are entitled to receive all reasonable and necessary medical care to cure or relieve the effects of a work-related injury, potentially for life. The employer is responsible for the costs of providing such medical care. Notwithstanding numerous...

September 21, 2023

California Compensation Cases September 2023

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 88, No. 9 September 2023 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE LexisNexis Online Subscribers: You can link to your account on Lexis+ to read the complete headnotes and court decisions, en banc decisions, writ denied summaries...

September 17, 2023

California: Tribal Sovereignty: The Appeals Board Revisits the Five Factor Analysis Set Forth in Miami

By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board It is well-settled law that federally recognized Indian Tribes have sovereign immunity from state workers’ compensation liability. Any notion to the contrary was dispelled by the Court of Appeal’s decision in Middletown Rancheria v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (1998) 60...

September 06, 2023

California: Nunes II

By Hon. Robert G. Rassp Disclaimer: The material and any opinions contained in this treatise are solely those of the authors and are not the opinions of the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation, or the WCAB, or any other entity or individual. The materials are intended to be a reference tool only and are not meant to be relied upon as legal advice. After Nunes I, the applicant...

August 24, 2023

California: Depositions of Injured Workers

By Hon. Robert G. Rassp, Presiding Judge, and Hon. Clint Feddersen, Workers’ Compensation Judge (This article is excerpted from California Workers' Compensation Discovery (LexisNexis).) Disclaimer: The material and any opinions contained in this book are solely those of the authors and are not the opinions of the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation, or the WCAB, or...

August 23, 2023

The Grand Bargain & Presumptions: Are Some Workers More Equal Than Others?

By Richard B. Rubenstein, Esq., Livingston, NJ Will COVID-19 Presumptions and IARC Monograph#132 Be Game-changers? The original Grand Bargain of workers’ compensation played no favorites: All workers were created equal when traumatically injured. Of course, workers’ compensation laws did not cover occupational diseases at the time of the making of the Grand Bargain. It took decades for emerging theories...

August 23, 2023

California Compensation Cases August 2023

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 88, No. 8 August 2023 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE LexisNexis Online Subscribers: You can link to your account on Lexis+ to read the complete headnotes and court decisions, en banc decisions, writ denied summaries, panel...

August 16, 2023

California: Nunes and the Path Forward: The Use of Vocational Evidence in Determining Permanent Disability and Apportionment

By Hon. Marguerite Sweeney, Former Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board In the recent en banc decision Nunes v. State of Calif, DMV (2023) 88 Cal. Comp. Cases 741 , the Appeals Board concluded that the concept of “vocational apportionment” is not legally cognizable, while emphasizing that substantial vocational evidence can be necessary to achieve an accurate overall PD rating...

July 31, 2023

CWCI: California Workers’ Comp Independent Medical Reviews Increased in First Half of 2023

Oakland, CA – A new California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) review of the Independent Medical Review (IMR) process used to resolve California workers’ comp medical disputes shows that after hitting an all-time low high in 2022, the number of IMR decision letters rose 4.1% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022, though the number of letters and individual decisions...

July 25, 2023

California Compensation Cases July 2023

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 88, No. 7 July 2023 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE LexisNexis Online Subscribers: You can link to your account on Lexis+ to read the complete headnotes and court decisions, en banc decisions, writ denied summaries, panel...

July 24, 2023

California: Precursor to Nunes En Banc Similarly Rejects the Concept of Vocational Apportionment

By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board The workers’ compensation community has been abuzz since the Appeals Board issued its most recent en banc decision, Nunes v. State of California Dept. of Motor Vehicles (Nunes) (June 22, 2023) 88 Cal. Comp. Cases 741 [ 2023 Cal. Wrk. Comp. LEXIS 30 ]. There is no question that Nunes...

July 20, 2023

A Guide to Understanding Workplace Violence and Florida Workers’ Compensation

By Richard T. Fuerst and Robert J. Grace, Jr., Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace, Tampa, Florida I. Introduction Workplace violence is a disturbing issue that can have severe consequences for employees, employers, and the customers they interact with. Nationwide workplace violence seems to arise with greater frequency. Unfortunately, acts of violence can occur in any industry; therefore, the Florida’s Workers’...

July 17, 2023

California: Top 25 Noteworthy Panel Decisions (January through June 2023)

LexisNexis has selected some of the top “noteworthy” panel decisions issued by the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board during the period January through June 2023. The first part of this year yielded a number of cases involving COVID-19 claims, in which the WCAB addressed the parties’ burdens of proof in situations where the presumption of industrial causation applies and in those where...

July 13, 2023

California: CWCI Report Identifies Low-Volume/High-Cost Musculoskeletal and Ulcer Drugs

Oakland, CA – Part III of the California Workers’ Compensation Institute’s (CWCI) research series on low- volume/high-cost drugs used to treat California injured workers highlights three Musculoskeletal Drugs and three Ulcer Drugs that represent a small share of the prescriptions in their therapeutic drug groups, but due to high average payments, have become cost drivers, consuming a disproportionate...

July 11, 2023

California: The Shipley Doctrine: What Is the Current Hoopla About?

The Shipley doctrine remains viable, and the Appeals Board will apply it broadly to ensure that petitioners are not deprived of due process. By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board Thirty-one years ago, the Court of Appeal issued its decision in Shipley v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (Shipley) (1992) 7 Cal. App. 4th 1104...

June 29, 2023

COVID-19’s Impact on the California Workers’ Compensation System: WCIRB Updates Its March 2022 Study

By Hon. Susan V. Hamilton, Former Assistant Secretary and Deputy Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board The California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) has followed up with significant updates to its March 2022 study on medical treatments and costs of COVID-19 claims. Background In March 2022 the WCIRB released its study entitled, “Medical Treatments and...

June 26, 2023

California: How the Appeals Board En Banc Decision in Nunes Affects Attorneys and WCJs

On June 22, 2023, the Appeals Board issued an en banc decision in Nunes v. State of California, Dept. of Motor Vehicles (2023) 88 Cal. Comp. Cases __, 2023 Cal. Wrk. Comp. LEXIS 30 , in which the Appeals Board made it clear that there is no such thing as “vocational apportionment” when a party seeks to rebut a strict rating under the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule (PDRS) using a vocational expert...

June 22, 2023

California Compensation Cases June 2023

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 88, No. 6 June 2023 A Report of En Banc and Significant Panel Decisions of the WCAB and Selected Court Opinions of Related Interest, With a Digest of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE LexisNexis Online Subscribers: You can link to your account on Lexis+ to read the complete headnotes and court decisions, en banc decisions, writ denied summaries, panel...

June 22, 2023

California: Going and Coming Rule; Required Vehicle Exception

Grey v. Comfort Keepers Health Care This case could have been decided either way—compensable or a regular commute from home to work. The fact that the employee could select or reject the assignment for home health care leads one to believe that the assignment was optional in the first place. Why place liability for workers’ compensation benefits when an assignment is entirely optional by the employee? Driving...