With commentary by Robert G. Rassp, Esq.

In Garcia-Picen v. Tight Quarters, Inc., the Appeals Board, in a split panel opinion, held that the WCJ incorrectly determined that the defendant's UR of a treating physician's request for authorization to provide viscosupplementation injections to treat an applicant's 3/16/2012 admitted industrial right knee injury was defective because it was not signed by the UR physician. However, the Appeals Board found that the UR may be defective on the basis that the UR physician was not aware of the applicant's relevant medical history when she considered the treating physician's medical treatment request, and that...read more. 

The Court of Appeal has ordered publication of a decision which confirms the application of Evidence Code 915 to discovery and privilege issues before the W.C.A.B. The Court had initially ordered the decision, Regents v. W.C.A.B. (Lappi), to not be published, but with multiple requests for publication on an issue for which there was no prior appellate law, the Court determined the case met the criterion for publication. In this matter the applicant had demanded a copy of all "unprivileged documents" from the claims file from the University of California's claims administrator, Sedgwick, at the deposition of the claims adjuster. The University moved to quash the deposition, however, the WCJ ordered...read more.