What the panel ordered
Findings of Fact and Award of September 9, 2019 affirmed except findings 10, 11, and 12 rescinded and substituted; case returned to trial level for further proceedings and new findings on permanent disability, apportionment, credit, and attorney's fees.
Petition for reconsideration filed by defendant; WCJ decision vacated in part and remanded for further proceedings on permanent disability, apportionment, credit for stipulated award, and attorney's fees.
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 WCAB noted the stipulation that there was no permanent disability from the 1993 cervical spine injury and expressed no final opinion on orthopedic apportionment, remanding for further proceedings.
From the decision · page 6car accident actually occurred. Defendant apparently does not challenge this part of the WCJ's decision. However, in its petition for reconsideration (in contrast to its supplemental pleading) defendant asserts that 50% of any new and further orthopedic disability should be apportioned to the natural progression of the effects of the specific (cervical spine) injury of September 20, 1993. In support of this assertion, defendant relies upon the May 25, 2017 deposition testimony of Dr. Jackson, the AME in orthopedics. (Petition for Reconsideration, p. 12:3-20; Exhibit Y, pp. 28- 32.) However, we note that the Stipulated Award of July 15, 2002 included a stipulation that "[t]here is no permanent disability as a result of the 9/20/93 [cervical spine] claim." This stipulation long ago became final and binding, so it is unclear how defendant can prove apportionment based on the cervical spine injury dating back to 1993. (See Fireman's Fund Ins. Co. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd.