Here's the second batch of advanced postings for the March 2010 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com subscribers can link to the cases to read the full summaries.
City of Los Angeles, PSI, administered by Tristar Risk Management, Petitioner v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, Randy Canister, Respondents
75 Cal. Comp. Cases ***, 2010 Cal. Wrk. Comp. LEXIS 22
Vocational Rehabilitation--Vocational Rehabilitation Maintenance Allowance--WCAB, upholding applicant's final award of retroactive vocational rehabilitation maintenance allowance (VRMA) for periods 11/9/2004 through 2/15/2005 and 11/27/2006 through 1/7/2007, held that, although WCAB, because of 1/1/2009 repeal of Labor Code § 139.5, had no jurisdiction to award additional retroactive vocational rehabilitation maintenance allowance benefits claimed by applicant, statute's repeal did not preclude WCAB from enforcing prior final award of benefits, pursuant to Weiner v. Ralphs Company (2009) 74 Cal. Comp. Cases 736 (Appeals Board en banc opinion), when WCAB found that it had continuing jurisdiction under Labor Code §§ 5502(b)(3) and 5803 to enforce or terminate vocational rehabilitation rights that were already vested.
Victor Flores, as designated trustee claimant for Maria Antonia Hernandez-Lopez, et al., and Gonzalo Flores-Hernandez (Dec'd), Petitioners v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, A.G. West, State Compensation Insurance Fund, Respondents
75 Cal. Comp. Cases ***, 2010 Cal. Wrk. Comp. LEXIS 23
Death Benefits--Dependency--WCAB upheld WCJ's finding that relatives of decedent/ farm laborer who was fatally injured on 9/6/2004 after having moved to United States from Mexico for work, including mother, father, two brothers, and niece and nephew all living in Mexico, were partial dependents for purposes of awarding death benefit pursuant to Labor Code § 4702(a)(4)(A), when evidence, although conflicting, indicated that applicants had at least some income at time of decedent's death either in form of wages or staples, support for decedent's niece and nephew was provided in part by their own parents, some of money sent to applicants by decedent was used to repay monies loaned to applicant for travel from Mexico to United States, and WCAB found that there was substantial evidence to support WCJ's finding of partial dependency, and that there was no merit to contention that decedent's niece and nephew were entitled to augmented death benefit pursuant to Labor Code § 4703.5, since this section applies only to totally dependent minor children of deceased employee-parent, as defined in Labor Code § 3501.
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