What the panel ordered
The WCAB affirms the Findings and Order except amends Finding of Fact 2 to clarify that third-party credit does not apply to QME deposition costs but applies to future workers' compensation benefits.
Defendant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Order issued by the WCJ on January 15, 2020, regarding third-party credit applicability to medical-legal costs.
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 third-party credit does not apply to deposition-related costs because defendant paid those costs as the noticing party, consistent with former WCAB Rule 10536.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Defendant noticed the deposition of QME Dr. Ciepiela and paid the deposition fee and transcript costs.
Favours Defendant prevailed
This fact established that the third-party credit does not apply to these costs because defendant already paid them as the noticing party.
What the panel did with the medical opinions
The role the physician served, and the weight the opinion carried. Physicians are named here as the decision names them; we do not score them.
Issued QME report on April 8, 2019, which defendant objected to and reserved right to depose.
From the decision · page 2FACTUAL BACKGROUND Applicant, while employed on February 5, 2016, as a Regional Operations Manager, by Propark, Inc., sustained injury arising out of and in the course of employment (AOE/COE) to his neck, and claims to have sustained injury AOE/COE to his hands, fingers, head, back, and arm and in the form of dizziness, tendonitis, and a hernia. (Minutes of Hearing (MOH), December 5, 2019, p. 2:4-10.) On April 8, 2019, QME Dr. Ciepiela issued his QME report. (Ex. C, QME Report, April 8, 2019.) On April 25, 2019, defendant objected to QME Dr. Ciepiela's report and reserved the right to depose him. (Ex. M, Petition for Costs, April 25, 2019 Letter attached as Ex. D.) On June 6, 2019, defendant noticed the deposition of QME Dr. Ciepiela for October 7, 2019. (Ex.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Lab. Code, § 3861
Section 3861 of the Labor Code regarding third-party credit and reimbursement.
The Board applied section 3861 to determine that third-party credit does not apply to deposition-related costs already paid by defendant.
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, former § 10536
Former WCAB Rule 10536 regarding payment responsibility for medical examiners' deposition fees.
The Board applied former Rule 10536 to hold that the noticing party is responsible for deposition costs.
From the decision · page 4II. Former WCAB Rule 10536 stated: Medical examiners appointed by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board or agreed to by the parties when subpoenaed for cross-examination at the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board or deposition shall be paid by the party requiring the attendance of the witness in accordance with the rules of the Administrative Director.
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
Defendant paid the QME deposition fee and transcript costs as the noticing party, consistent with former WCAB Rule 10536.
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About this page
- A published decision of the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, taken apart by what it turned on. The Board publishes the decision itself; this page adds the extraction and quotes the passage behind every claim.
- The injured worker is not named here, and the case caption is not printed. Physicians appear as the decision names them, because a medical opinion is an act in a public proceeding.
- Issues, outcomes and weights were extracted by AI and released only where the source passage checked. Read the official decision before relying on anything here. Not legal advice.
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