CIGA Withdraws Petition for Review for Home-Modification Dispute Pending at 2nd DCA

The California Insurance Guarantee Association on Wednesday withdrew its petition for judicial review in one of two pending disputes over refusal to pay for workers' home modifications. Last month, the 3rd DCA agreed to hear CIGA v. WCAB (Smith), and earlier this month, the 2nd DCA granted writ to CIGA v. WCAB (Mercado). Both cases involve a question of whether a workers' compensation judge had the authority to decide whether CIGA should have to pay for modifications which its utilization reviewers found to be unwarranted, instead of allowing the disputes to go through the indepe...