What the panel ordered
Reconsideration granted, March 17, 2026 Findings and Award rescinded, matter returned to trial level for further proceedings.
Applicant sought reconsideration of the March 17, 2026 Findings and Award, which found 6% permanent partial disability after apportionment; WCAB granted reconsideration, rescinded the F&A, and remanded for further proceedings.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 apportionment opinions of both the PTP and QME were found incomplete and not substantial evidence, as neither adequately explained the causal relationship or overlap between the prior and current injuries, nor the basis for the percentage of apportionment.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Neither the QME nor the PTP adequately explained how the prior 2008 right knee injury caused 60% of the current permanent disability or addressed overlap between prior and current injuries.
Favours neutral
This deficiency rendered their apportionment opinions not substantial evidence, requiring remand for further development of the record.
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.
Found right knee impairment based on lateral compartment narrowing, apportioned 60% of current disability to prior 2008 injury, but did not adequately explain the causal relationship or basis for percentage apportionment; analysis found incomplete by WCAB.
WCAB found QME's apportionment analysis incomplete and not substantial evidence.
Apportioned 60% of right knee joint space narrowing to 2008 injury, but did not explain mechanism or basis for percentage, nor discuss overlap as required; analysis found incomplete by WCAB.
WCAB found PTP's apportionment analysis incomplete and not substantial evidence.
From the decision · page 7Lane apportioned 60 percent of applicant's right knee joint space narrowing and need for a partial lateral meniscectomy to the 2008 injury, "due to the fact that the patient did have a prior industrial claim with surgery, and over time this contributed to her development of lateral compartment disease." (Ex. 3, Report of John Lane, M.D., dated November 5, 2024, at p. 5.) However, as was the case with Dr. Moazzaz, the PTP does not identify the mechanism by which applicant's prior injury is now resulting in permanent disability, nor does it discuss how the physician identified the particular percentages used. In addition, the PTP does not discuss apportionment or overlap as described in section 4664. (Kopping, supra, 142 Cal.App.4th at p. 1115.) We thus find the analysis of both causation and apportionment in the PTP reporting to be incomplete.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Lab. Code §§ 4663, 4664; Escobedo v. Marshalls (2005) 70 Cal.Comp.Cases 604; Kopping v. WCAB (2006) 142 Cal.App.4th 1099
Apportionment of permanent disability must be based on causation, and the employer is liable only for the percentage of disability directly caused by the industrial injury; substantial evidence requires detailed explanation of causation and overlap.
The WCAB found the medical opinions did not meet the substantial evidence standard for apportionment because they lacked adequate explanation of causation and overlap.
From the decision · page 6In addition, section 4664 provides that "[i]f the applicant has received a prior award of permanent disability, it shall be conclusively presumed that the prior permanent disability exists at the time of any subsequent industrial injury." (Lab. Code, § 4664 (b).) "Section 4664(b) creates a conclusive presumption of the continued existence of a prior permanent disability when the claimant received an award of permanent disability benefits based on that disability," and that defendant "has the burden of proving overlap between the current disability and the previous disability in order to establish its right to apportionment...." (Kopping v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (2006) 142 Cal.App.4th 1099, 1115 [71 Cal.Comp.Cases 1229].)
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
QME and PTP reports did not adequately explain the causal relationship or basis for apportionment percentages, nor address overlap between prior and current injuries.
The same issues, filtered across the whole corpus — or paste your own facts and let the search rank by factor match.
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.
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