What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration denied
Petition for Reconsideration filed by Defendant from Findings of Fact, Award and Order dated 5/28/21, considered and denied by WCAB panel on 8/16/21
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.
ApportionmentDefendant prevailedright hip · right knee · right ankle · left knee
The IME's apportionment opinion was found not to be substantial evidence because it lacked the necessary explanation and reasoning required by precedent cases, failing to meet the burden of proof for apportionment.
From the decision · page 3Applicant alleged an industrial injury to his right ankle, right knee, right hip and left knee. The IME, Dr. Gerard Dericks, first found an industrial injury arising from the specific injury of 1/22/19 to the right hip, knee and ankle, and that the left knee symptoms were a compensable consequence of this specific injury (page 13, Joint Exhibit C), but in his report of 10/27/20 (Joint Exhibit A), he modified that opinion on page 10 to conclude that, "...based on a reasonable degree of medical probability, that 50 percent of the bilateral knee, right hip and right ankle permanent disability is related to the 1.22.19 injury, and compensatory consequences of that injury, and 50 percent is related to the prior right ankle and left knee surgeries and pre-existing degeneration."