What the panel ordered
The WCAB granted reconsideration, rescinded the March 4, 2022 Findings and Order, and substituted a new Findings and Order finding injury AOE/COE to the lumbar spine, left shoulder, and left elbow from September 1, 2017 through October 17, 2018; the matter was returned to the trial level for further proceedings.
Applicant sought reconsideration of the WCJ's Findings and Order issued March 4, 2022, which denied the injury claim; the WCJ found defendant's denial untimely but successfully rebutted the presumption of compensability and found no injury AOE/COE.
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.
The WCAB found that the QME Dr. Gowey's well-reasoned medical opinion constituted substantial evidence that applicant sustained cumulative injury AOE/COE to lumbar spine, left shoulder, and left elbow, rejecting the pre-employment medical exam as insufficient evidence.
From the decision · page 1Applicant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Order (F&O) issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) on March 4, 2022, wherein the WCJ found in pertinent part that defendant's denial of applicant's injury claim was untimely under Labor Code section 5402, that defendant successfully rebutted the Labor Code section 5402(b) presumption of compensability, and that applicant did not sustain injury arising out of and occurring in the course of employment (AOE/COE) to his neck, bilateral shoulders, bilateral elbows, lumbar spine, and left leg, while employed by defendant; the WCJ ordered that applicant take nothing by way of his injury claim.