Important Recent California Case Law

Monday, June 2, 2014 | 0

NEW! Jones v. Su, A137942, (05/22/2014): A California appellate court upheld the assessment of $5,700 in penalties against a rabbit farm business for failing to provide workers' compensation insurance to its employees and for other labor law violations. 

NEW! Regents of the University of California v. WCAB (Lappi), G048217, (05/23/2014): Evidence Code statutes governing privilege are applicable in workers' compensation proceedings, and so the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board cannot compel a party to produce documents for review as a means of determining the validity of a claimed privilege, a California appellate court ruled.

NEW! Dubon v. World Restoration, (05/22/2014): The California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board agreed Thursday to reconsider its decision in Dubon v. World Restoration, in which it decided that medical necessity is not subject to the independent medical review process when an employer's utilization review is defective.

NEW! Brower v. State Compensation Insurance Fund, ADJ802221, (05/21/2014): In a ruling similar to a decision by a Florida appellate court last September, the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board held en banc that an employer or insurer must start paying permanent disability benefits based on a reasonable estimate of an injured worker's ultimate level of permanent disability if the applicant has exhausted his 104 weeks of eligibility for temporary disability benefits.

NEW! Lantz v. WCAB (Pleasant Valley Prison), F065934, (05/19/2014): California's 5th District Court of Appeal ruled that a correctional officer's death while traveling home after working an overtime shift was not compensable. 

NEW! Torres-Ramos v. Marquez, ADJ982471, (05/05/2014): A recent Workers' Compensation Appeals Board panel decision may provide defense attorneys with a procedural loophole that allows a carrier to deny a requested treatment even though it had failed to timely respond to the request.

NEW! People v. Lewis, D063121, (05/05/2014): A California appellate court overturned a jury's verdict finding a former prison employee guilty of multiple counts of workers' compensation insurance fraud due to an instructional error at his trial. 

NEW! Benavides v. WCAB (Specialty Risk Services), No. B251487, (05/07/2014): The 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled that an injured worker could renege on his agreement to a stipulated award for his industrial injury and reopen his claim based on a new report from an agreed medical evaluator increasing his level of disability. [Rehearing granted on 5/27]

NEW! White v. County of Los Angeles, B243471 and B244798, (04/15/2014): An employer who is not satisfied with the certification provided by a treating physician regarding an applicant's fitness to return to work after taking a medical leave can seek its own evaluation of the employee, at its own expense, once it has brought the employee back to work, a California appellate court ruled.

NEW! Weilmann v. United Temporary Service, ADJ3299212, (04/09/2014): The California applicants' attorneys say a Workers' Compensation Appeals Board panel decision gives them a new avenue to invalidate an adverse utilization-review decision. 

NEW! Hopkins v. Kedzierski as Trustee, etc. et al., D053392, (04/16/2014): An injured worker who waited for her workers' compensation claim to be resolved before filing a personal injury suit against the building owner tolled the usual two-year statute of limitations for filing a tort claim, the California 4th District Court of Appeal ruled.

NEW! Tallent v. Infinite Resources, ADJ7756026, (03/19/14): A qualified medical evaluator is not limited to commenting solely on impairments that fall within the scope of treatment for his medical specialty, according to a panel decision by the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. 

NEW! Global Hawk Insurance Co. v. Le, A137976, (04/14/2014): A California appellate court reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of a automobile liability insurance carrier, finding there was a triable issue as to whether an injured driver was an employee of the carrier's insured.

NEW! Becas v. Kern County Employees' Retirement Association, F065967, (04/02/2014): A California appellate court ruled that an injured county employee was not entitled to disability retirement benefits.

NEW! Dill v. Service Employers International, 13-0262, (03/11/2014): The Benefits Review Board vacated an award of death benefits to the widow of a military contractor who committed suicide shortly after returning from Iraq and discovering his wife had committed adultery and his teenage daughter had developed a drug problem.