WCJ's $2,500 Sanctions Award for $56 Fee Dispute Raises Eyebrows

By John P. Kamin, Legal EditorA workers' compensation judge awarded a $2,250 attorney fee award in a $56.25 attorney fee dispute after questioning why the dispute even made it to trial. The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board on Aug. 25 declined a request to reconsider the ruling, which stemmed from an alleged underpayment in the case of Alvarez v. Moreno Valley Unified School District. While the WCAB commissioners on the case did not accept Judge Myrle Petty's request to sanction the defense on the case, they did admonish the defense "for continuing to assert a position that is wi...