What the panel ordered
The WCAB rescinded the 12% attorney fee award and substituted a 15% attorney fee award, affirming the remainder of the F&A.
Applicant's attorney sought reconsideration of the WCJ's May 15, 2023 Findings and Award, which awarded a 12% attorney fee. The WCAB granted reconsideration to further study the issues.
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 12 percent fee did not fully account for the time expended, work performed, and results obtained by Arteaga, including settling multiple issues and obtaining a 54% PD rating. The Board found a 15 percent fee reasonable.
From the decision · page 3short of reasonable, as it failed to fully account for the time that Arteaga expended on applicant's three-year case, the work that he performed during that time, and results that he obtained on applicant's behalf, which included future medical care and a 54% PD rating. The record also indicates that Arteaga's efforts assisted the parties in settling multiple issues outside of court, including, but not limited to, stipulations as to injury AOE/COE, applicant's PD rating, and P&S date, as well as the use of an AME over a QME. (MOH, April 27, 2023, pp. 2-3; Exh. A2, pp. 94- 96, Joint AME Letter, March 11, 2022.) The 12 percent fee award did not adequately compensate Arteaga for successfully settling these issues; in fact, it was because these issues were settled that the WCJ declined to award Arteaga a higher fee, finding, as noted above, that the trial "essentially had no disputed issues and no witness testimony, allowing for a fairly quick submission on the record, to memorialize the stipulat[ions]...." However, the stipulations reflect competence and