California Compensation Cases July 2019 Issue

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES

Vol. 84 No. 7 July 2019

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

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LexisNexis Online Subscribers: You can link to your account on Lexis Advance to read the complete headnotes and court decisions, en banc decisions, writ denied summaries, panel decisions and IMR decisions.

Appellate Court Cases Not Originating With Appeals Board

The People v. Ibarra (James). Lexis Advance.

Workers’ Compensation Fraud—Attempted Perjury—Evidence—Court of Appeal, affirming judgment of trial court, held that evidence presented at trial was sufficient for reasonable jury to conclude that applicant/defendant committed attempted perjury, when Court of Appeal found that applicant/defendant claimed ankle injury…

Thomas (William) v. County of San Joaquin. Lexis Advance.

Disability Retirement Claims—Denial of Benefits—Dismissal of Employee—Court of Appeal, affirming trial court’s order sustaining defendant employer’s demurrer without leave to amend plaintiff employee’s…

Yalley (Renee); Anezinos (Chris) v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston. Lexis Advance.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance Premiums—Employees’ Contribution —Court of Appeal, affirming trial court’s judgment of dismissal as to defendant employer entered after sustaining defendant employer’s demurrer…

Appeals Board En Banc Decision

Wilson (Kris) v. State of CA Cal Fire [Op. filed 7-15-2019]. Lexis Advance.

Psychiatric Injury—Catastrophic Injury—Increased Impairment Rating—Appeals Board en banc, denying defendant’s petition for reconsideration…

Digests of WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review

Askins (Thora) v. W.C.A.B. Lexis Advance.

tipulations—Setting Aside—Extrinsic Fraud—WCAB affirmed WCJ’s order denying applicant’s petition to set aside 2010 Stipulation with…

Gutierrez (Genoveva) v. W.C.A.B. Lexis Advance.

Average Weekly Wage Calculation—WCAB rescinded WCJ’s finding that applicant’s earning capacity for purposes of calculating her temporary…

Opus One Labs v. W.C.A.B. (Fndkyan, Robert). Lexis Advance.

Supplemental Job Displacement Benefits—Physician’s Return-to-Work Form—WCAB, reversing WCJ, held that applicant was entitled to supplemental job displacement voucher (SJDV) benefits and, contrary to…

State of California/Dept. of Motor Vehicles v. W.C.A.B. (Guandique, America). Lexis Advance.

Permanent Disability—Apportionment—Substantial Evidence—WCAB affirmed WCJ’s single award of 100 percent permanent disability to applicant who suffered cumulative injuries to her shoulders, hands…

Other WCAB Decisions Denied Judicial Review

Briggs (George) v. W.C.A.B. Lexis Advance.

Injury AOE/COE—Burden of Proof—WCAB affirmed WCJ’s finding that applicant did not sustain injury AOE/COE to his back, circulatory…

California Insurance Co. v. W.C.A.B. (Livhits, Alan). Lexis Advance.

Petition for Writ of Review—Dismissal of Untimely Petition—Court of Appeal dismissed defendant’s petition for writ of review as untimely, when petition was…

Glendale Adventist Medical Center v. W.C.A.B. (Dermendzhyan, Anait). Lexis Advance.

Medical-Legal Procedure—Additional Medical Evaluation in Different Specialty—WCAB affirmed WCJ’s finding that there was good cause…

Vela (Gabriel) v. W.C.A.B. Lexis Advance.

Petitions for Writ of Review—Dismissal for Failure to Timely Seek Reconsideration—Court of Appeal dismissed applicant’s Petition for Writ of Review because applicant did not timely seek reconsideration before WCAB….

Yellow Roadway Corp. v. W.C.A.B. (Rodriguez, John). Lexis Advance.

Petitions for Writ of Review—Waiver of Issues—Court of Appeal summarily denied defendant’s Petition for Writ of Review challenging WCAB’s apportionment determinations pursuant…

Appeals Board Panel Decisions

Bates (Robert) v. County of San Mateo. Lexis Advance.

Permanent Disability—Apportionment—WCAB affirmed WCJ’s finding that applicant deputy sheriff was entitled to combined award of 80 percent permanent disability for injury to his heart and circulatory…

Franco (Oscar) v. MV Transportation, Inc. Lexis Advance.

Discrimination—Labor Code § 132a—WCAB rescinded WCJ’s finding that employer did not violate Labor Code § 132a by discharging applicant from his position as bus driver for four months without pay pending…

Independent Medical Review Decisions

CM18-0153424 (8-29-2018). Lexis Advance.

[LexisNexis Commentary: This IMR decision provides a good example of the circumstances under which EMG/NCS evaluation is appropriate.]

[LexisNexis Commentary: The IMR reviewer here approved physical therapy when a home exercise regime was insufficient; if applicant improves with PT, the necessity of more costly medical treatment may be avoided.]

CM18-0232657 (12-24-2018). Lexis Advance.

[LexisNexis Commentary: The IMR reviewer here approved an extra tablet of medication, which appears reasonable given applicant’s pain and functioning problems. If monitoring reveals problems the medication can be reduced or discontinued when the current prescription runs out.]

CM19-0017325 (2-22-2019). Lexis Advance.

[LexisNexis Commentary: The IMR reviewer here considered the fact that the treating physician wrote a clear rebuttal to UR’s previous denial of the requested treatment, together with the fact that applicant’s condition was worsening, to determine that a neurological consultation was in applicant’s best interests in this case.]

[LexisNexis Commentary: This IMR decision is helpful in that the IMR reviewer discusses use of the H-Wave when other conservative treatment modalities have failed, and the device reduces pain and improves function. The reviewer notes, however, that the device can be costly.]