What the panel ordered
Findings and Award of April 25, 2024 affirmed with non-substantive technical amendments; liability assigned to California Insurance Guarantee Association for injury period 1/1/1996 to 1/1/1997
Petition for Reconsideration granted; Decision After Reconsideration issued affirming and amending the WCJ's Findings and Award of April 25, 2024
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
AOE/COEApplicant prevailedmultiple myeloma
The WCJ's finding that the period of injurious exposure was from January 1, 1996 to January 1, 1997 was supported by credible testimony of the applicant, a co-employee's declaration, and medical expert opinions, which the WCAB adopted and affirmed on reconsideration.
From the decision · page 1Defendant California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) seeks reconsideration of a workers' compensation administrative law judge's (WCJ) Findings and Award of April 25, 2024, wherein it was found that while employed by the Zoological Society of San Diego during a cumulative period ending January 1, 1997, applicant sustained industrial injury in the form of myeloma. It was found that the sole carrier insuring the employer during the Labor Code section 5500.5 liability period was Fremont Insurance Company. On July 2, 2003, Fremont went into liquidation, and CIGA took over its California claims. CIGA is an entity created by statute in 1969 to create a fund from which insureds can seek recourse if their insurer becomes insolvent. CIGA is not an insurance company, but is required to pay statutorily defined covered claims. (Industrial Indemnity Co. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Garcia) (1997) 60 Cal.App.4th 548, 556-557 [62 Cal.Comp.Cases 1661].) In the instant case, it was found that CIGA was solely liable for any benefits due to the applicant as a result of the industrial injury.