What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration is denied.
Applicant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Award issued on October 26, 2023, which the WCJ recommended denying.
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.
ApportionmentDefendant prevailedheart · hypertension · low back · psyche · abdomen/groin · hemorrhoids · hiatal hernia · GERD
The WCJ and WCAB concluded that section 4664(c) imposes a lifetime cap on permanent disability awards by body region and is not an apportionment issue precluded by section 4663(e). The lifetime cap applies despite the presumptions for safety officers under section 4663(e).
From the decision · page 1Applicant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Award (F&A) issued on October 26, 2023, wherein the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) found that applicant, while employed as a Highway Patrol Officer from March 13, 1997, to May 13, 2020, sustained industrial injury to the low back, heart, hypertension, psyche, abdomen/groin (in the form of prostate cancer and urinary incontinence), hemorrhoids, hiatal hernia and GERD. The WCJ found that applicant sustained a prior industrial injury resulting in 66 percent permanent disability, and that the prior and current disabilities exceeded the 100 percent lifetime accumulative limit set forth in Labor Code1 section 4664(c)(1)(G). The WCJ reduced applicant's current disability levels to comply with the lifetime limit for that body region, then combined the resulting disability with the disability arising out of other body regions described in section 4664(c)(1), resulting in a net award of 43 percent disability.