CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES
Vol. 90, No. 2 February 2025
A Report of En Banc and Vital Panel Choices of the WCAB and Chosen Court docket Opinions of Associated Curiosity, with a Digest of WCAB Choices Denied Judicial Evaluation
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
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Appellate Court docket Instances Not Originating with Appeals Board
Premises Legal responsibility—Utility of Privette Doctrine—Contractor Licensing Necessities and Exemptions—Court docket of Attraction, affirming trial court docket, held that defendant was entitled to abstract judgment in negligence motion introduced by plaintiff who was injured by falling department whereas trimming bushes on defendant’s property, when Court docket of Attraction…
Madrigal v. Raincross Pub and Restaurant
Employment Relationships—Staff vs. Impartial Contractors—Vicarious Legal responsibility—Court docket of attraction, reversing trial court docket’s grant of abstract judgment in favor of defendant Raincross Pub and Restaurant, held that there have been triable problems with truth relating to whether or not safety guard assigned…
Digests of WCAB Resolution Denied Judicial Evaluation
L.A. Specialty Produce Co. v. W.C.A.B. (Rivera Flores, Hever)
Petitions for Reconsideration—WCAB’s Time to Act on Petition—Shipley—WCAB relied on rationale in Shipley v. W.C.A.B. (1992) 7 Cal. App. 4th 1104, 9 Cal. Rptr. 2nd 345, 57 Cal. Comp. Instances 493, and due course of ideas to carry that it had authority to behave upon and take into account applicant’s timely-filed Petition for Reconsideration past 60-day time restrict in Labor Code § 5909, when, attributable to administrative error…
Common Weekly Wages—Incomes Capability—COVID-19 Pandemic—WCAB, granting reconsideration, rescinded WCJ’s discovering that applicant’s common weekly earnings at time of his 8/28/2021 harm for functions of figuring out short-term incapacity price have been $749.42, as calculated below Labor Code § 4453(c)(1) primarily based on applicant’s…
Appeals Board Panel Choices
CAUTION: These WCAB panel choices haven’t been designated a “important panel choice” by the Staff’ Compensation Appeals Board. Practitioners ought to proceed with warning when citing to those board panel choices and also needs to confirm the following historical past of the selections. WCAB panel choices are citeable authority, significantly on problems with contemporaneous administrative development of statutory language. Nonetheless, WCAB panel choices will not be binding precedent, as are en banc choices, on all different Appeals Board panels and staff’ compensation judges. Whereas WCAB panel choices will not be binding, the WCAB will take into account these choices to the extent that it finds their reasoning persuasive.
Reyes (Carlos) v. Palm Desert Doors and Hardware
Severe and Willful Misconduct of Employer—WCAB, granting reconsideration, rescinded choice through which WCJ discovered that applicant’s employer, appearing as subcontractor on constructing website, didn’t have interaction in severe and willful misconduct below Labor Code §§ 4553 and 4553.1 with respect to accidents incurred by applicant…
Robasciotti (Karen) v. Maxim Healthcare
Common Weekly Wages—Incomes Capability—WCAB, granting reconsideration, affirmed WCJ’s discovering that wage capability evaluation below Labor Code § 4453(c)(4) was acceptable methodology to find out applicant’s common weekly wages…
Everlasting Incapacity—Ranking—Combining A number of Disabilities—WCAB, granting reconsideration, rescinded WCJ’s discovering that applicant suffered everlasting complete incapacity as results of industrial accidents to a number of physique components whereas…
Santoyo (Gabriela) v. Gen Korean BBQ House
Medical Therapy—Utilization Evaluation—Medical Therapy Utilization Schedule—WCAB, granting reconsideration and reversing WCJ’s choice in break up panel opinion, held that microdiscectomy surgical process requested by applicant’s treating…
Impartial Medical Evaluation Choices
CAUTION: The Writer’s Workers has reviewed each overturned and upheld impartial medical assessment (IMR) choices starting in 2017. Standards for choice embody dialogue of related medical subjects, together with however not restricted to prescription drugs, dwelling well being care, orthopedic points, bodily remedy, opioid prescriptions, and so on. The Writer’s choice just isn’t meant to be reflective of the proportion of all IMR choices that overturn utilization assessment (UR) denials.
Migraine Headache Remedy—Ajovy—Applicant, 49 years previous, sustained an industrial traumatic mind harm on 11/3/2018. He was being handled for, amongst different circumstances, post-concussive syndrome and posttraumatic complications. Applicant had beforehand… [LexisNexis Commentary: This IMR decision is helpful because it addresses Ajovy (Fremanezumab) (which, like Ubrelvy, is a CGRP blocker), but without using ODG guideline criteria and instead relying on UpToDate, Inc., and the American Headache Society. These references may guide readers in searching for authority to support the use of Ajovy in the medical evidence search sequence. The IMR reviewer’s reference to UpToDate, Inc. (www.uptodate.com) indicates the reviewer’s familiarity with the most up-to-date treatments for post-concussion and other brain injuries.]
Migraine Headache Remedy—Ajovy—Applicant, 61 years previous, sustained an industrial harm on 1/4/2012, and underwent remedy for migraine tension-type complications, cervicalgia and decrease again ache with sciatica. She had been utilizing Ajovy and Nurtec… [LexisNexis Commentary: This IMR decision applies ODG criteria, which are higher in the medical evidence search sequence than other evidence-based medicine guidelines and peer review studies.]
