Workers Compensation

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. WCAB, 112 Cal. App. 4th 1435 (2003)

Velta Elaine Garcia suffered an orthopedic injury to her back while employed by Wal-Mart. At the time of the injury, Garcia had worked at Wal-Mart for fewer than six months. Four years after the incident, Garcia amended her workers’ compensation claim to assert that she had suffered damage to her psyche resulting from…

Albillo v. Intermodal Container Services, Inc., 114 Cal. App. 4th 190 (2003)

In this class action, the plaintiff-independent contractors (truck owners and owner-operators) sued Intermodal Container Services, Inc. and other freight transportation companies (the companies) for violation of Business & Professions Code § 17200, among other things, arising out of the companies’ charging the truckers for workers’ compensation coverage. Under the lease agreement between…

Mosby v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 110 Cal. App. 4th 995 (2003)

Freddie Curtis Mosby and his wife Sheri Mosby sued Freddie’s employer, Best Buy, and Best Buy’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, for malicious prosecution and loss of consortium after Liberty Mutual reported Mosby to the local district attorney for workers’ compensation insurance fraud, which charges were dismissed after the…

Le Parc Community Ass’n v. WCAB, 110 Cal. App. 4th 1161 (2003)

Tim Curren, an employee of Advance Property Management (APM), was injured when he fell from a roof while cleaning the rain gutters of one of the properties owned by Le Parc Community Association. (Le Parc had retained APM to perform roof repairs, tree trimming and other maintenance activities.) In addition to filing…

Operating Engineers Local 3 v. Johnson, 110 Cal. App. 4th 180 (2003)

Bonita Vinson and her union, Operating Engineers Local 3, filed this lawsuit against Sylvia Johnson, the Chief Probation Officer of the County of Alameda and the county, alleging violation of Vinson’s right to privacy. Vinson alleged that Johnson had made an announcement at a managerial meeting, in the presence of other employees…

State of Cal. Dep’t of Rehabilitation v. WCAB, 30 Cal. 4th 1281 (2003)

Ronald Lauher worked as a rehabilitation counselor for the California Department of Rehabilitation for 25 years before submitting a claim for workers’ compensation benefits based on work-related stress and depression. After Lauher was diagnosed with Gerstmann’s Syndrome (a brain lesion that causes learning disabilities) and prescribed medication, his disability was considered…

Weber v. United Parcel Serv., 107 Cal. App. 4th 801 (2003)

Gary Weber, who was employed as an aircraft mechanic for UPS, underwent periodic hearing tests in accordance with the company’s internal safety policies and the requirements of the California Code of Regulations. Eventually, the tests revealed that Weber was losing his hearing in his left ear, which could have been a symptom of…

Huang v. L.A. Haute, 106 Cal. App. 4th 284 (2003)

Ai Zhen Huang was employed as a housekeeper at the home of Brad Hunter, but was on the payroll of L.A. Haute, a furniture manufacturing business in which Hunter was a partner. Huang was employed for approximately two years before her employment was terminated on April 15, 1999. On August 9, 2000, Huang filed…

Honeywell v. WCAB, 104 Cal. App. 4th 829 (2002)

The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (“WCAB”) found that Honeywell had breached its duty to provide its employee, William Wagner, with a workers’ compensation claim form after it became “reasonably certain” of Wagner’s alleged psychiatric injury. As a result, the WCAB held that the 90-day period to contest the alleged injury began and expired without a…

Northrop Grumman Corp. v. WCAB, 103 Cal. App. 4th 1021 (2002)

Robert C. Graves filed a workers’ compensation claim for psychiatric injuries he allegedly sustained following an investigation into his alleged racial discrimination against a subordinate employee whom he supervised at Northrop Grumman. The workers’ compensation judge (and the WCAB) found that the psychiatric injury caused Graves permanent disability of 20 percent, that further…