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 found permanent total disability caused by the injury; defendant contested this finding; the matter was settled by Compromise and Release.
From the decision · page 1I. Defendant, Affinity Insurance Limited, petitioned for reconsideration of the Findings of Fact and Award issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) in this matter on March 8, 2021. In that decision, the WCJ found that applicant's injury to her back and left knee, ankle, foot, upper extremity and shoulder arising out of and in the course of her employment on July 11, 2011, as a truck driver by H&R Livestock Transportation, Inc., caused permanent total disability and need for further medical treatment. Defendant Affinity Insurance Limited, which insured the employer for workers' compensation liability at the time of the injury, contends in its petition for reconsideration that the WCJ erred in finding that applicant's injury caused permanent total disability. Applicant filed an answer contending that the petition for reconsideration should be denied. The WCJ issued a report in which he recommended that the petition for reconsideration be denied. Subsequently, at our request the parties participated in a commissioners' settlement conference and agreed to resolve this matter by Compromise and Release.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Applicant sustained injury to back, left knee, ankle, foot, upper extremity and shoulder on July 11, 2011, arising out of employment as truck driver.
Favours Applicant prevailed
This injury was the basis for the permanent total disability finding and subsequent settlement.
From the decision · page 1I. Defendant, Affinity Insurance Limited, petitioned for reconsideration of the Findings of Fact and Award issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) in this matter on March 8, 2021. In that decision, the WCJ found that applicant's injury to her back and left knee, ankle, foot, upper extremity and shoulder arising out of and in the course of her employment on July 11, 2011, as a truck driver by H&R Livestock Transportation, Inc., caused permanent total disability and need for further medical treatment. Defendant Affinity Insurance Limited, which insured the employer for workers' compensation liability at the time of the injury, contends in its petition for reconsideration that the WCJ erred in finding that applicant's injury caused permanent total disability. Applicant filed an answer contending that the petition for reconsideration should be denied. The WCJ issued a report in which he recommended that the petition for reconsideration be denied. Subsequently, at our request the parties participated in a commissioners' settlement conference and agreed to resolve this matter by Compromise and Release.
Defendant contested the WCJ's finding of permanent total disability in petition for reconsideration.
Favours Defendant prevailed
This contest led to reconsideration and eventual settlement resolution.
From the decision · page 1I. Defendant, Affinity Insurance Limited, petitioned for reconsideration of the Findings of Fact and Award issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) in this matter on March 8, 2021. In that decision, the WCJ found that applicant's injury to her back and left knee, ankle, foot, upper extremity and shoulder arising out of and in the course of her employment on July 11, 2011, as a truck driver by H&R Livestock Transportation, Inc., caused permanent total disability and need for further medical treatment. Defendant Affinity Insurance Limited, which insured the employer for workers' compensation liability at the time of the injury, contends in its petition for reconsideration that the WCJ erred in finding that applicant's injury caused permanent total disability. Applicant filed an answer contending that the petition for reconsideration should be denied. The WCJ issued a report in which he recommended that the petition for reconsideration be denied. Subsequently, at our request the parties participated in a commissioners' settlement conference and agreed to resolve this matter by Compromise and Release.
Favours neutral
The settlement resolved the dispute over permanent total disability and medical treatment needs.
From the decision · page 1I. Defendant, Affinity Insurance Limited, petitioned for reconsideration of the Findings of Fact and Award issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) in this matter on March 8, 2021. In that decision, the WCJ found that applicant's injury to her back and left knee, ankle, foot, upper extremity and shoulder arising out of and in the course of her employment on July 11, 2011, as a truck driver by H&R Livestock Transportation, Inc., caused permanent total disability and need for further medical treatment. Defendant Affinity Insurance Limited, which insured the employer for workers' compensation liability at the time of the injury, contends in its petition for reconsideration that the WCJ erred in finding that applicant's injury caused permanent total disability. Applicant filed an answer contending that the petition for reconsideration should be denied. The WCJ issued a report in which he recommended that the petition for reconsideration be denied. Subsequently, at our request the parties participated in a commissioners' settlement conference and agreed to resolve this matter by Compromise and Release.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
California Labor Code
Labor Code section 5001
Requirement for approval of compromise and release agreements by the appeals board.
From the decision · page 2II. Labor Code section 5001 states in pertinent part that "[n]o release of liability or compromise agreement is valid unless it is approved by appeals board or referee." WCAB Rule 10700 states that:
California Labor Code
Labor Code section 5002
Filing and approval process for compromise and release agreements and entry of award based on them.
California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 10700
WCAB Rule 10700
Board's inquiry into adequacy of compromise and release agreements and stipulations with request for award.
From the decision · page 2"The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board shall inquire into the adequacy of all compromise and release agreements and stipulations with request for award, and may set the matter for hearing to take evidence when necessary to determine whether the agreement should be approved or disapproved, or issue findings and awards." (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10700.)
The same issues, filtered across the whole corpus — or paste your own facts and let the search rank by factor match.
About this page
- A published decision of the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, taken apart by what it turned on. The Board publishes the decision itself; this page adds the extraction and quotes the passage behind every claim.
- The injured worker is not named here, and the case caption is not printed. Physicians appear as the decision names them, because a medical opinion is an act in a public proceeding.
- Issues, outcomes and weights were extracted by AI and released only where the source passage checked. Read the official decision before relying on anything here. Not legal advice.
- If you are named in this decision and want this page removed, write to privacy@similarcase.com.