What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration denied.
Petition for Reconsideration filed and denied by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board panel after review of the WCJ report.
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 WCJ found the applicant credible and unrebutted based on the DVD evidence and testimony, concluding the applicant was not the initial physical aggressor. The defense failed to meet the burden of proof to show the applicant was the initial aggressor under the legal standard.
From the decision · page 4This case did not involve the usual panoply of issues in Workers' Compensation, only the "doorstep" issue of whether the applicant was the initial physical aggressor in an alleged altercation. Also, as a result of the time the WCJ spent with the parties prior to going on the record, and the excellent preparation of both sides, we were able to streamline the issues to the point that we only had one witness (the applicant) and minimal evidence. The most important evidence was the four-minute DVD of 01-14-2020 of the alleged altercation of 01-14-2020 in Court Exhibit X1.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.