What the panel ordered
Amended Findings and Award affirmed except issues of LC 5412 date of injury and LC 5500.5 liability period deferred; Amended Award rescinded; matter returned to WCJ
Petition for Reconsideration granted to further study factual and legal issues; matter returned to WCJ for further proceedings
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 Appeals Board found no substantial evidence to determine the date of injury under LC 5412 or the liability period under LC 5500.5, deferring these issues for further development of the record.
From the decision · page 6Accordingly, we affirm the F&A except that we amend the F&A to defer the of issues of the Labor Code section 5412 date of injury and the Labor Code section 5500.5 liability period (Finding of Fact 3). Based thereon, we rescind the Amended Award and order that the award of benefits identified in the Amended Findings of Fact is deferred, and we return the matter to the WCJ for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
No evidence of compensable temporary or permanent disability prior to end of professional baseball career
Favours Defendant prevailed
Without evidence of compensable disability, the date of injury under LC 5412 cannot be established.
From the decision · page 4Based upon the medical evidence, applicant's testimony, and State Comp. Ins. Fund (Rodarte) (2004) 69 Cal.Comp.Cases 579, it is found that the date of injury under Labor Code Section 5412 is after the end of applicant's professional baseball career, as there is no evidence of compensable temporary disability, or permanent disability, prior thereto. The previous finding of an earlier date of injury, based upon a report indicating that the applicant will miss work (a scheduled start) on April 24, 2006, due to "throwing overuse," was incorrect, because there was no evidence of wage loss and therefore no compensable temporary disability, nor evidence of permanent disability, which are required to support a finding of date of injury under Labor Code Section 5412, as explained in Rodarte. The liability period under Labor Code Section 5500.5 is therefore the last year of injurious exposure, from August 29, 2009 through August 28, 2010, during which period applicant was employed by the Golden Baseball League, insured by State Compensation Insurance Fund. (F&O/Amended Opinion on Decision, p. 2.)
Applicant received rehabilitation for two years post-surgery but no wage loss evidence
Favours Defendant prevailed
Lack of wage loss during rehabilitation means no compensable temporary disability to support date of injury finding.
From the decision · page 5Review of the trial record, including applicant's testimony and Def. Exh. B, indicates that applicant was employed by the Tampa Bay Rays for approximately three years, starting January 14, 2006, and the shoulder surgery was performed on July 13, 2006. There is no evidence in the record clearly indicating that applicant had any loss of wages during his two years of
What the panel did with the medical opinions
The role the physician served, and the weight the opinion carried. Physicians are named here as the decision names them; we do not score them.
Testified that there could be one long continuous trauma or two separate cumulative traumas due to a period of immobility after surgery; noted applicant's shoulder was absolutely immobile for a period post-surgery.
The opinion was considered in relation to the date of injury and liability period issues, particularly regarding the period of disability after surgery.
From the decision · page 3A. Well, okay. For certain there would be one long continuous trauma for everything in the lower extremities including the knees and the hips. If you can split the baby to the point where the few months of not throwing but doing physical therapy is an interruption that would merit two continuous traumas, that could be a consideration.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Labor Code section 5500.5
Labor Code section 5500.5 liability period limitation
Limited liability to employers during the one year immediately preceding the date of injury or last injurious exposure.
From the decision · page 4Labor Code section 5500.5 states in part that:
State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Rodarte) (2004) 119 Cal. App.4th 998
Date of injury determination requires compensable temporary or permanent disability
Date of injury under LC 5412 requires evidence of compensable temporary or permanent disability, not just medical treatment.
From the decision · page 5We agree with the WCJ that the Second District Court of Appeal concluded:
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
Applicant's testimony about monthly income and rehabilitation period
Lack of evidence of wage loss during rehabilitation period
From the decision · page 5Review of the trial record, including applicant's testimony and Def. Exh. B, indicates that applicant was employed by the Tampa Bay Rays for approximately three years, starting January 14, 2006, and the shoulder surgery was performed on July 13, 2006. There is no evidence in the record clearly indicating that applicant had any loss of wages during his two years of
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.
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