Where this sits
- Chapter 4.5.
- Division of Workers' Compensation
- Subchapter 2. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board--Rules and Practice Procedure
- Article 12. Settlements
The regulation, as printed
Where a lien claim is on file with the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, and a Compromise and Release agreement or Stipulations with Request for Award is filed, a copy of the Compromise and Release agreement or Stipulations with Request for Award shall be served by the filing party on the lien claimant. No lien claim shall be disallowed or reduced unless the lien claimant has been given notice and an opportunity to be heard.
Authority and history
Note: Authority cited: Sections 133 and 5307, Labor Code. Reference: Sections 4903, 4903.05, 4903.1, 4903.4, 4904, 4904.1, 4905 and 4906, Labor Code.
1. Renumbering of former section 10886 to section 10702, including amendment of section heading, section and Note, filed 12-17-2019; operative 1-1-2020. Submitted to OAL for printing only pursuant to Government Code section 11351 (Register 2019, No. 51).
What panels did with this rule
Released decisions that named § 10702, with the passage each turned on. A panel decision persuades; it does not bind.
- ADJ10418270 · 2025-09-09 · Lodi District Office8 CCR § 10702
Determinative passage · p.6Here, because lien claimant was not a party to the C&R, it clearly did not accept an offer to settle its lien claim via the agreement. Thus, as a matter of contract law, lien claimant was not contractually bound by the C&R, or, for that matter, the OACR, which approved the C&R's terms as drawn by the parties. (Crowley v. Maritime Corp. v. Boston Old Colony Ins. Co. (2008) 158 Cal.App.4th 1061, 1069 ["It goes without saying that a contract cannot bind a nonparty."].) The WCJ would have lien claimant insert itself as a party to the C&R, which would prohibit it from adjudicating, rather than settling, its lien claim. Such a requirement would violate lien claimant's due process rights, and we reject the WCJ's position to the contrary. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10702 ["No lien claim shall be disallowed or reduced unless the lien claimant has been given notice and an opportunity to be heard."].)
Applied to find lien claimant not bound by C&R or OACR as it was not a party; WCJ erred in holding otherwise.
Official decision · page 6 →
Rules beside this one
Article 12. Settlements — regulations rarely stand alone, and the answer is often two sections away.