What the panel ordered
Findings and Order of October 20, 2006 rescinded; matter returned to trial level for further proceedings and new decision consistent with en banc opinion.
Petition for reconsideration granted to study record and law; case assigned en banc for uniformity and important legal issues regarding penalties and attorney's fees under Labor Code sections 5814 and 5814.5.
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 en banc board held that the amount of the penalty under section 5814(a) is discretionary and should be determined upon consideration of enumerated factors; a successive penalty may be awarded for unreasonable delay but not where defendant had genuine doubt or no legally significant intervening event; section 5814.5 entitles applicant's attorney to fees for enforcing awards after January 1, 2003, regardless of injury date.
From the decision · page 116 For the reasons discussed below, we hold: (1) that the amount of the penalty under section
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.