What the panel ordered
The WCAB granted defendant's petition for reconsideration, amended the WCJ's decision to defer the cervical spine injury issue, and ordered further medical examination and development of the record regarding permanent disability and apportionment.
Defendant sought reconsideration of the WCJ's Finding and Award and Order of September 27, 2023, which found industrial injury to multiple body parts and deferred permanent disability. The WCAB granted reconsideration and amended the decision to defer the cervical spine injury issue.
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 cervical spine injury was not placed at issue at trial, and no substantial medical evidence of industrial causation was presented, requiring deferral of this issue.
From the decision · page 2We will grant reconsideration and amend the WCJ's decision to defer the issue of injury to the cervical spine. The cervical spine was not placed at issue in the Minutes of Hearing of the August 17, 2023 trial, where applicant claimed injury to the "cardiovascular system, headaches, sleep, bilateral hips, left knee and left leg" in addition to the admitted lumbar spine. It was thus error to find injury to a body part that was not placed at issue at trial. As the Court of Appeal stated in Katzin v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 703, 711 [57 Cal.Comp.Cases 230], "`An elementary and fundamental requirement of due process in any proceeding which is to be accorded finality is notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections. [Citation.]' (Fortich v. Workers' Comp.