The California Supreme Court will consider a request for the high court to order the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board to issue final decisions in cases where it granted itself more time to decide petitions for reconsideration.
Applicant’s attorneys Charles Rondeau and Thomas Martin filed the petition asking the high court to issue a writ of mandate to the WCAB. The state Supreme Court granted review to the matter on Dec. 11, 2024, meaning that it will weigh in on the WCAB’s “grant for study” practice.
The term “grant for study” refers to cases where:
- A trial judge issues a decision.
- A party who is unhappy with the decision files a petition for reconsideration with the Appeals Board.
- The Appeals Board issues a brief decision granting reconsideration, but states that they need more time to review the case before issuing a decision. (Note: By “granting reconsideration,” they are merely granting it to study the matter further – no decision has been issued on whether the relief sought in the petition is appropriate or not.)
- A long time (sometimes multiple years) before a decision on the petition for reconsideration is issued.
If this all sounds familiar to you, it’s because in August 2023 the 2nd District Court of Appeal issued a published decision in the case of Earley v. WCAB on a similar topic. In that decision, the 2nd DCA stated that the board had to stop its grant-for-study practice, but still was not required to issue a final decision on the merits within 60 days of a petition for reconsideration either. (For more analysis on the Earley decision, click here.)
The Earley decision addressed what the WCAB must do going forward, but the decision seemingly did not require any immediate action on the 500-plus cases that were already subject to the “grant-for-study” practice. Many of these cases have been pending for years after the WCAB initially granted the petition for reconsideration, but requested more time to issue a decision on the matter. This new petition could trigger a decision by the state Supreme Court on that batch of pending cases – if granted.
The petitioners described the current status of the 500-plus cases on p. 9 of their Nov. 4 petition, which says:
“… pursuant to a California Public Records Act information request in connection with Earley, it was determined that as October 2021 more than 500 (500) cases remained undecided at that time as a result of ‘grant for study’ orders issued within the preceding three-year period alone. The number of Petitioners in this case give rise to a reasonable inference that a similar number of undecided cases remain ‘on hold’ due to the Board’s issuance of ‘grant for study’ orders.
Petitioners request that this Honorable Court issue a writ of mandate directing the WCAB to issue final decisions in all cases wherein a ‘grant for study’ was issued under the former version of (Labor Code) Section 5909.”
If granted, the WCAB would find itself having to issue final decisions on presumably hundreds of cases, possibly with a deadline from the state Supreme Court. One can also infer that these cases are more complex than the average petition for reconsideration, because the WCAB probably was not requesting additional time for review on the easier cases.
Another factor that could come into play is the tradition of high appellate courts granting at least some level of deference to lower administrative court systems such as the WCAB and administrative bodies such as the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this is a dispute that carries ramifications for hundreds and hundreds of cases, and now the high court has decided that it will weigh in. Grab your popcorn folks, because this is going to be an interesting one to watch!
We at Bradford and Barthel will continue to monitor this case and provide updates as more developments occur.
Got a question about workers’ compensation defense issues? Feel free to contact John P. Kamin or Louis A. Larres. Mr. Kamin is a workers’ compensation defense attorney and equity partner at Bradford & Barthel’s Woodland Hills location, where he monitors the recent legislative affairs as the firm’s Director of the Editorial Board. Mr. Kamin previously worked as a journalist for WorkCompCentral, where he reported on work-related injuries in all 50 states. Please feel free to contact John at jkamin@bradfordbarthel.com or at (818) 654-0411.
Louis Larres is a partner and area managing attorney at Bradford and Barthel’s Fresno office, and the director of the firm’s Appellate Division. Please feel free to contact Louis at llarres@bradfordbarthel.com or at (559) 221-6500.
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