What the panel ordered
Joint Findings and Order and Award of February 5, 2020 affirmed except denial of bilateral knee injury in ADJ10507939 reversed; case returned to trial level for further proceedings and new decision on bilateral knee injury claim.
Petition for reconsideration granted to review the finding of no bilateral knee injury in ADJ10507939 and to evaluate request for further development of the record; matter returned to trial level for further proceedings.
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's finding of no bilateral knee injury was reversed because the WCJ did not provide a complete factual and legal analysis of the statute of limitations defense and further development of the record was warranted due to evidence suggesting possible cumulative trauma injury to the knees.
From the decision · page 5If the true basis for the WCJ's finding of no bilateral knee injury is that applicant's claim was made beyond the Statute of Limitations (an affirmative defense), we cannot uphold it because the WCJ's Opinion on Decision did not provide a complete factual and legal analysis of the elements necessary to sustain the defense. (See Lab. Code, § 5313.) The Opinion on Decision enables the parties, and the Board if reconsideration is sought, to ascertain the actual basis for the decision, and makes the right of seeking reconsideration more meaningful. (Evans v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1968) 68 Cal.2d 753 [33 Cal. Comp. Cases 350].)