What the panel ordered
The WCAB denied defendant's petition for reconsideration, affirming the WCJ's Findings and Award of permanent total disability without apportionment.
Defendant filed a petition for reconsideration challenging the WCJ's Findings and Award on permanent total disability and apportionment.
This docket was decided more than once. Shown here is the latest released decision; we also hold February 10, 2023.
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
The WCJ and WCAB found that the QME's apportionment opinion was not substantial evidence because it apportioned to causation of injury (stroke) rather than causation of disability, and did not explain how risk factors caused the disability. Therefore, the award of 100% permanent total disability without apportionment was upheld.
From the decision · page 1Defendant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Award (F&A), issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) on June 2, 2025, wherein the WCJ found in pertinent part that applicant sustained injury arising out of and in the course of employment in the form of a stroke and to the psyche; that applicant's injury has resulted in permanent total disability; and that defendant has not met its burden of proof with regard to non-industrial apportionment.