Oakland - A new California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) analysis that examines how medical inflation impacts allowable fees under the California workers’ compensation Official Medical...
By Hon. Colleen Casey, Former Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board It’s a problem. Petitions for Reconsideration (Recon) are losing their way and delaying their arrival...
CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 89, No. 11 November 2024 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...
By Thomas A. Robinson, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis ( LexisNexis ) (This article is excerpted from the upcoming 2024 Edition of Workers’ Compensation...
By Hon. Colleen Casey, Former Commissioner, California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board The battle of the bill review experts is on! This issue was the focus of the recent Noteworthy Panel Decision...
The recent WCAB Noteworthy Panel Decision (NPD) of Harris v. Numac Company; SIBTF, 2020 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 46, provides an excellent roadmap for navigating through the SIBTF minefield of burden of proof. That case dealt with a repairman who had sustained a series of impairments over the years.
Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund—Threshold Requirements for Entitlement to Benefits—Combining Multiple Disabilities—WCAB, amending WCJ's decision, found that (1) applicant who became ill with pneumonia after working in wet and cold weather met threshold requirement in Labor Code § 4751(b) for entitlement to Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) benefits because current injury resulted in permanent disability of 81 percent when considered alone and without regard to apportionment and adjustments for age and occupation, (2) 34 percent of applicant's nonindustrial lung impairment from sarcoidosis was not labor-disabling prior to applicant's pneumonia and should not be considered in calculating SIBTF benefits, (3) although it is proper to combine successive disabilities by adding pursuant to Bookout v. W.C.A.B. (1976) 62 Cal. App. 3d 214, 132 Cal. Rptr. 864, 41 Cal. Comp. Cases 595, WCJ incorrectly determined permanent disabilities that must be added by separating out applicant's respiratory disorder from his contact dermatitis and arousal disorder, and (4) combined effects of current injury and prior disability from applicant's back injury resulted in 100 percent permanent disability, calculated by adding 65 percent of current disability attributable to industrial injury and 38 percent for prior disability.