Judge Won't Close Hearing on Inmates' Entitlement to Comp

Monday, July 30, 2018 | 0

A workers’ compensation judge denied a bid by attorneys for Fresno County to close the public a hearing into whether inmates who were injured while assigned to a work detail are entitled to benefits, the Fresno Bee reports.

The county in June filed a motion asking Workers’ Compensation Judge Thomas J. Henslin to exclude news media and the public to protect the privacy of the inmates who were injured in 2015 when a gas pipeline exploded.

Warren Paboojian, an attorney representing the inmates who were on a work detail at the Fresno County Sheriff’s foundation shooting range when the pipeline exploded, in June said his clients don’t want workers’ compensation benefits and don’t care if the public attends the trial.

Henslin on July 24 ruled that he will hold a trial that is open to the public. The judge said the county’s petition wasn’t supported by statute or case law, the Bee reports.

The Bee in June reported that the county argued that workers’ compensation proceedings were different from civil or criminal trials that are open to the public. The county also argued that members of the media must go through an extra step of filing a written petition seeking permission to attend and take notes on a workers’ compensation hearing.

DWC spokesman Peter Melton said the media has the same right as the public to attend workers’ compensation hearings. Regulations require petitioning a work comp judge for permission to record or photograph a hearing, he said. But members of the media are not prohibited from attending hearings and taking notes, Melton said.

Henslin said in his decision that the county’s argument would mean “not even trial counsel could take notes during the trial.”

Nine inmates injured in the 2015 explosion, and the family of one inmate who died, are suing the county for negligence. They cite a California Public Utilities Commission report from 2016 confirming initial claims by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that the explosion was caused when a county worker leading the inmate work crew hit a gas line with a front-loader bucker.

The inmates say they were forced to work at the shooting range and that they didn’t receive any payment or other benefits in exchange for the work. As a result, they say they’re not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits and should be allowed to proceed with the tort claim.

The county is arguing that the inmates were employees and that the negligence complaint should be thrown out because workers’ compensation provides the exclusive remedy for any injuries they sustained.