Karen C. Yotis, Esq., a Feature Resident Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter , provides insights into workplace issues and the nuts and bolts of the workers’ comp world. It’s been a full decade since the 2004 enactment of SB899 turned California Labor...

An injured worker’s contention that she still suffered significant pain was not sufficient to contradict the Commission’s finding that the worker had nevertheless reached a point of maximum medical improvement, held an Idaho court. In fact, the worker’s evidence that she was not improving...

In Ramirez v. Space Lok, Inc., 2015 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 9 (lexis.com), 2015 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 9 (Lexis Advance), the WCAB rescinded the WCJ’s finding that the applicant, a machine operator, incurred 36 percent permanent disability as a result of a 7/23/2012 industrial injury to...

Where settlement in 2002 (via Vermont’s Form 22) of the PPD segment of a workers’ compensation claim was based upon a physician’s use of the AMA Guides’ Diagnosis Related Estimate (“DRE”) and, six years later, two different physicians indicated that it would have been...

Here are the first and second batches of advanced postings for the April 2015 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2015 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Lynda Myers , Petitioner...

A New York appellate court held it was error to apportion an injured worker’s permanent disability based on medical testimony that 10 percent of the impairment was due to a 2009 work-related injury and that the rest was due to a 1981 work-related injury where the worker returned to work after the...

Here’s the third batch of advanced postings for April 2015 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the cases to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2015 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Tina Solano, Petitioner v. Workers'...

The Commission issued a shocking new decision that the Missouri comp statute does not require a worker’s expert to provide a rating of disability in order to receive permanent disability benefits. The Commission awarded partial benefits of 18 weeks against the Fund, reversing a denial by the ALJ...

Here’s the second batch of advanced postings for the May 2015 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the cases to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2015 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation...

LexisNexis has picked the top “noteworthy” panel decisions issued by the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board during the period January through June 2015. The list features a number of split-panel decisions, including bonus cases addressing the validity of untimely independent...

Here’s the second batch of advanced postings for July 2015 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2015 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation,...

This article is a favor to the WCAB commissioners and is a call out to parties and trial judges to develop the record before a case gets to the appellate level. How many times have you been confronted with an “ortho, psyche, and internal” case in which either the psychiatrist or internist...

WCAB affirms $11,000 windfall for in pro per applicant In Garcia v. Oxnard School District , 2015 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 492 [ 2015 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 492 ], the WCAB, affirming the WCJ’s stipulated award, held that the defendant was bound by a stipulation that the applicant was...

The case involves a fight between a worker's father and the worker's spouse over nearly $100,000. Ard, dec. v Jim Plunkett Inc. 2015 MO WCLR Lexis 101 (lexis.com), 2015 MO WCLR Lexis 101 (Lexis Advance) (Oct 22, 2015). The worker broke multiple bones in Oct. 2010 in Kansas City when he moved...

Here’s the latest batch of advanced postings for the March 2016 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Joe Navarro, Petitioner v. Workers'...

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 81 No. 3 March 2016 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 © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights...

Here’s the latest batch of advanced postings for the April 2016 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Deanna Pimes (aka Deanna Pimes...

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 81 No. 4 April 2016 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 © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights...

Here’s the latest batch of advanced postings for the September 2016 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Flowserve Corporation, Travelers...

Here’s the latest batch of advanced postings for the September 2016 issue of Cal. Comp. Cases. Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can link to the case to read the complete headnotes and summaries. © Copyright 2016 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. Ease Entertainment Services,...

The AMA Guides under the California’s workers’ compensation system are for determining whole person impairment (WPI) and not apportionment under Labor Code §§ 4663 and 4664 In two separate cases, Caires v. Sharp Healthcare, 2014 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS 145 (WCAB panel decision...

CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES Vol. 82 No. 5 May 2017 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 © Copyright 2017 LexisNexis. All rights...

The recent decision from the Court of Appeal in City of Jackson v. Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Rice) (2017) 11 Cal.App. 5th 109 , 2017 Cal.App. LEXIS 383 (certified for publication), has justifiably engendered wide spread controversy in the workers’ compensation community as evidenced...

Substantial evidence supported the Workers’ Compensation Board’s finding that the claimant was not attached to the labor market because the claimant’s testimony regarding his search for employment was inconsistent, contradictory, and not credible. Moreover, the claimant did not present...

The dilemma of determining apportionment of permanent disability arising directly from employer furnished medical treatment necessitated by both preexisting industrial and nonindustrial causes and conditions. In a decision certified for publication, the Court of Appeal in Hikida v Workers’ Comp...