One of the most common complaints that arise in the life of a worker’s compensation case, from a defense perspective, is applicants requesting additional QME panels. Additional panels increase permanent disability exposure and escalate litigation…
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Unprecedented times call for unprecedented action. Two weeks after California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board issued its first of seven…
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After a year of pandemic-related shutdowns, California’s gradual reopening has been carrying gargantuan implications for the state’s workers’ compensation stakeholders.

Strategic consolidations have become more common in the California workers’ compensation system in recent years, prompting defendants to weigh the pros and cons of consolidated litigation.

A bill that would reduce the decision timeframe to accept or deny most claims down to a 45-day timeframe is perhaps the most controversial bill of the 2021 legislative session, but has a long ways to go before it could be signed into law.

It seems as if just yesterday, a little over a year ago in March 2020, our state shut down during the unprecedented coronavirus crisis that permeated the globe. As businesses, offices, schools and stores shut…
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California Labor Code Section 4600 provides “[m]edical, surgical, chiropractic, acupuncture, and hospital treatment, including…medicines…that are reasonably required to cure or relieve the injured worker from the effects of his or her injury shall be provided…
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EDITOR’S UPDATE 4/29/2021: The day after Bradford & Barthel published this blog, it was revealed that state lawmakers had amended Assembly Bill 1465 to remove the requirement to create a statewide MPN by 6/30/2022. Instead,…
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In today’s COVID environment, many employers have provided a large degree of flexibility for their employees to work from home or, alternatively, return to the office on a part-time basis. Many businesses are now reopening,…
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Technological hurdles have complicated the settlement walk-through process during the pandemic, but there are ways to avoid them and get settlements approved. WCAB offices have been closed for over a year. The lack of in-person…
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