What the panel ordered
The Appeals Board affirmed the Findings and Order dated September 7, 2019, denying Hartford's petition for reconsideration and confirming the date of injury as May 15, 2018, based on Dr. Rostami's permanent and stationary report.
Petition for reconsideration filed by Hartford Insurance Company challenging the date of injury and permanent disability evidence; the Appeals Board granted reconsideration and issued a Decision After Reconsideration affirming the prior Findings and Order.
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 Appeals Board found that the date of injury is May 15, 2018, based on Dr. Rostami's May 15, 2018 report declaring the applicant permanent and stationary with 21% whole person impairment, and rejected Hartford's contention that the date should be earlier based on lack of substantial medical evidence before that date.
From the decision · page 2Cases 579], the Court of Appeal concluded that the date of injury under Labor Code section 5500.5 requires compensable temporary disability or permanent disability, that medical treatment alone is not disability but may be evidence of compensable permanent disability, and that these are factual determinations which require expert medical opinion. In this case, Hartford contends that the date of injury is May 19, 2017 because that is when applicant began treating with Dr. Rostami, and there was permanent disability from the outset because applicant's condition remained the same during the doctor's treatment for the year that followed. It was after that time, on May 15, 2018, that Dr. Rostami declared applicant permanent and stationary (P&S) and formally determined that he had sustained permanent disability. According to Hartford, May 15, 2018 is not the date of cumulative trauma because Dr.