Hallett Work Comp News

CA SUPREME COURT MODIFIES THE TEST FOR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR STATUS

Delivery drivers for Dynamex filed suit against their classification as "independent contractors" for wage purposes. In an unanimous decision, the Supreme Court applied a "ABC test" in determining an employee's status by considering: a) To what extent the individual is under the control of the hirer; b) Is the work outside the usual course of the hirer's business; and c) Extent the workers' trade is of same nature as the hirer. In short, the Court added some factors beyond the Borello test that could arguably be applied in workers' compensation cases as well. Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County . (filed 4/30/2018)

WORK COMP NEWS

PUBLIC DOCS ON STAYED LIENS: In April the DIR publicly released documents showing why 30 vendors had their liens suspended under Labor Code Section 4615. The documents includes copies of the criminal indictments and California Secretary of State business filings showing what companies the indicted individuals own. This information could assist the defense on determining whether a particular lien on a case was correctly stayed or may not fall within the alleged criminal conduct. For more info go to:

www.dir.ca.gov>dwc_newsline

TD LIMITATION CAP LIVES!

Labor Code Section 4656(c)(2) limits TD benefits to 104 weeks within five years from date of injury, with some specified exceptions. Surprisingly, the TD limitation came under attack by the Board in County of San Diego v. WCAB (Pike ) (2018) when the WCAB held the statute was subject to open interpretation, and allowed TD to be awarded beyond the five years. However, the Court of Appeal promptly overturned the WCAB in finding the statute's wording and legislative intent to be very clear.

"SUDDEN & EXTRAORDINARY" PSYCH BURDEN: To overcome the six-month rule against psych claims, the Board determined in State Fund v. WCAB (2018)(certified for non-publication) that the applicant had the burden to prove his alleged job related psychiatric injury was caused by an uncommon, unusual and unexpected event. (This decision is contrary to prior case law stating the defense had the burden to show the type of accident was not unexpected for the type of work involved; but unfortunately this case was not officially published for use.)

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HEWS NEWS

San Diego: The law firm is pleased to announce the opening of the Rancho Bernardo office in San Diego County. The office will handle claims venued in San Diego and will be overseen by Angela M. Currie.

New Arrivals: HEWS welcomes three attorneys to the staff in Thomas S. Armour (Irvine), Ari L. Emurian (Calabasas) and Manisha A. Tendulkar (Irvine). These attorneys have more than 21 years of combined experience in handling work comp cases for the defense.

HEWS OFFICES

San Bernardino (909) 890-0403 (sbr@hmplc.com)
Irvine (949) 250-1216 (irv@hmplc.com)
Calabasas (818) 348-8366 (cls@hmplc.com)
San Diego (858) 753-1984 (sdo@hmplc.com)

www.hmplc.com