What the panel ordered
Findings, Award and Order of August 27, 2021, rescinded; Compromise and Release filed March 11, 2022, approved by WCAB.
Petition for reconsideration filed by Farmers Insurance Group/Mid-Century Insurance Company challenging WCJ's finding of permanent total disability; WCJ recommended denial of petition; parties later agreed to resolve by Compromise and Release.
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.
Permanent total disabilityMixedneck · low back · upper extremities · psyche · shoulders · legs · clavicle · head
The WCJ found permanent total disability caused by work injuries; Farmers contested this finding; the WCAB rescinded the WCJ's findings and approved a Compromise and Release settlement instead.
From the decision · page 1I. Defendant, Farmers Insurance Group/Mid-Century Insurance Company (Farmers) petitioned for reconsideration of the Findings, Award and Order issued by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) in this matter on August 27, 2021. In that decision, the WCJ found that applicant, sustained injuries to his neck, low back, upper extremities, psyche, shoulders, legs, clavicle, and head arising out of and in the course of the employment as an auto body prep man on May 23, 1995, and January 7, 1999, by defendant, Studebaker Services Auto Body, causing permanent total disability and need of further medical treatment. The WCJ awarded benefits against Farmers and defendant, State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), both of which insured the employer for workers' compensation liability during certain periods. The WCJ ordered Farmers to administer the award and reserved jurisdiction to enforce Farmers' right to contribution from SCIF for 50% of the benefits paid. Farmers contends in its petition for reconsideration that the WCJ erred in finding that applicant's injuries caused permanent total disability.