by Donald R. Barthel (December 22, 2025)
As California’s AB 5, AB 2257, as well as Prop. 22 and the millions of dollars poured into that campaign have all demonstrated, whether a hiring party can prove a worker is an independent contractor…
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by Donald R. Barthel (December 15, 2025)
With the advent of new case law from the 2nd District Court of Appeal effectively ending the “Patterson doctrine,” defense attorneys have to question whether the WCAB’s en banc decisions in Dubon I and II…
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by Donald R. Barthel (December 4, 2025)
Raising a successful marijuana intoxication defense against an alleged work-related injury may have been complicated by recent legislation, but defendants can still make it a successful defense if they remember the finer points of proving…
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by John P. Kamin (December 3, 2025)
Settlement season is here, and for many in the work comp game, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Every December, attorneys rush to and from their local Workers’ Compensation Appeals Boards to make…
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by John P. Kamin (November 19, 2025)
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a number of smaller bills into law during the 2025 legislative session, but perhaps the bill with the widest impact could be a bill requiring a template for all qualified medical…
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by John P. Kamin (November 10, 2025)
A defendant’s decision to authorize medical care should not prevent them from submitting future requests for authorization for the same treatment to utilization review, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled in a new published…
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by John P. Kamin (November 4, 2025)
Workers’ compensation costs have hit their highest numbers in more than 20 years, according to a Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau report released earlier this month. The WCIRB’s latest Quarterly Experience Report states that California’s…
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by John P. Kamin (November 3, 2025)
Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that he will push for changes to the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF) in 2026, according to the governor’s veto message of a bill that would have changed how the…
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by John P. Kamin (October 16, 2025)
The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board issued an en banc decision clarifying what policy information defendants must produce amid a confusing array of case law and regulations. The Appeals Board issued an en banc decision in…
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by John P. Kamin (October 9, 2025)
A single contract of hire made in the state of California is not sufficient to give the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board jurisdiction over all sports claims filed by an athlete against non-California teams, the 4th…
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