What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration denied; WCJ decision finding injury AOE/COE and death due to employment affirmed.
Petition for Reconsideration filed and denied by the WCAB panel, affirming the WCJ's findings and decision.
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 that the applicant/decedent sustained injury arising out of and in the course of employment resulting in death, based on substantial evidence including expert medical opinion and reasonable inferences from circumstantial evidence, resolving doubts in favor of the employee as required by Labor Code section 3202.
From the decision · page 3On August 7, 2014 at 8:00 a.m. applicant/decedent the applicant commenced his shift as a tow truck driver for the defendant employer. Applicant/decedent's normal work shift was 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. five days a week, remaining on call during the night on the days that he worked. (EAMS Doc ID 36483948 at 5:23- 7:1.) During the day in question, applicant/decedent had no tows, but moved a car with a forklift and put dry-sweep on an oil spill approximately 40' in length. (EAMS Doc ID's 36483948, 36483949 and 74171713.) Applicant/decedent also spent part of his day cleaning the yard of debris. (EAMS Doc ID 36483948 at 18:12- 19; EAMS Doc ID 36483949 at 6:1- 9.) At approximately 3:15 p.m., applicant/decedent was found unresponsive in the driver's seat of his tow truck which was parked under an awning that was running with the air-conditioning on. (EAMS Doc ID 36732011.) Emergency services were called to the scene and the applicant was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. An autopsy performed by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department lists the cause of death as "Atherosclerotic and Hypertensive Heart Disease." (EAMS Doc ID 36732011.)