What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration denied.
Petition for Reconsideration filed by Central Valley Injured Workers' Legal Clinic (CVIWLC) after prior findings on attorney fees and penalties.
This docket was decided more than once. Shown here is the latest released decision; we also hold June 28, 2021.
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 found no bad faith or frivolous conduct in the litigation of attorney fees, so no penalties or sanctions were imposed.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
The litigation of the attorney fee issue was not found to be in bad faith or frivolous.
Favours Defendant prevailed
This fact led the WCJ to deny penalties, sanctions, attorney fees, or costs.
From the decision · page 7While it is frustrating to "know" the meaning of a phrase, it is still a triable issue which does not rise to the level of bad-faith or frivolous. If interpreting the meaning of the phrase, "in full satisfaction of attorney fee lien", had been done more than once then possibly not withdrawing the demand would be frivolous. However, such is not the case here. Further, although further attorney fees would be connected to further work on the case, sometimes such issues require determination to remind the attorneys of the evidentiary standard. Again, to proceed with litigation of such an issue is not frivolous. Since there is no evidence that the litigation of the issue was either in bad faith or frivolous, there are no penalties, sanctions, attorney fees, or costs imposed.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Labor Code Section 5813
Labor Code Section 5813
The WCJ applied Labor Code Section 5813 to determine whether bad faith or frivolous conduct occurred in the attorney fee dispute.
From the decision · page 6Labor Code Section 5813 (a) The workers' compensation referee or appeals board may order a party, the party's attorney, or both, to pay any reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees and costs, incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay.
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
No evidence of bad faith or frivolous conduct in litigation of attorney fees.
From the decision · page 7While it is frustrating to "know" the meaning of a phrase, it is still a triable issue which does not rise to the level of bad-faith or frivolous. If interpreting the meaning of the phrase, "in full satisfaction of attorney fee lien", had been done more than once then possibly not withdrawing the demand would be frivolous. However, such is not the case here. Further, although further attorney fees would be connected to further work on the case, sometimes such issues require determination to remind the attorneys of the evidentiary standard. Again, to proceed with litigation of such an issue is not frivolous. Since there is no evidence that the litigation of the issue was either in bad faith or frivolous, there are no penalties, sanctions, attorney fees, or costs imposed.
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.
- 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.
- If you are named in this decision and want this page removed, write to privacy@similarcase.com.