almaraz – Page 2 – PDRater – Permanent Disability Calculators

Smith/Amar Unanimously Reversed!

By Jay Shergill Posted on May 11, 2009 Posted in Case Law, Downloads, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with almaraz, amar v wcab, Appeal Decision, Appellate Court, California Court Of Appeals, California Supreme Court, California Youth Authority, Compensation Cases, Compensation Judge, Court Of Appeal, David Amar, Dwight Smith, Formal Petition, Good Faith, Mel Clayton Ford, Oral Argument, reversed, Sixth Appellate District, smith v wcab, smith/amar, unanimous, Utilization Review, Wcab, Wcab California, Wcj

Oral argument on Smith v. WCAB (California Youth Authority) went forward on Smith out that on April 7, 2009. Today, we have the result – Smith/Amar has been unanimously reversed by the California Supreme Court in case number S150528. Download a copy and read it for yourself here:

Dwight Smith v. WCAB (California Youth Authority) ADJ2444225, ADJ811699, ADJ4137711, GRO16225, GRO16226, GRO16352, 2d Civil No. B190054 (1/16/2007) David Amar v. WCAB (Mel Clayton Ford) ADJ1756915, GOL89438, 2d Civil No. B190655 (1/16/2007)

For more background on Smith/Amar, check out my prior post discussing the oral argument.

Ogilvie, Almaraz/Guzman Amicus Briefs

By Jay Shergill Posted on May 11, 2009 Posted in 2005 PDRS, Almaraz / Guzman, AMA Guides, Ogilvie, PDRater, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with almaraz, Amicus Brief, Amicus Briefs, Boeing Co, California Applicants Attorneys Association, California Chamber Of Commerce, California Workers Compensation, Compensation Institute, Csac Excess Insurance Authority, Department Of Industrial Relations, Employers Direct Insurance Company, Excess Insurance, Industrial Medicine, Insurance Commissioner, International Association Of Rehabilitation Professionals, Notice Request, Safeway Inc, Steve Poizner, Wcab

Thanks to our friends at AppealsBoardReporter.com, we now have access to 22 amicus briefs filed in the Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman cases. ((Photo courtesy of Black Glenn. Terrible pun courtesy of me.)) In late March 2009 the WCAB granted reconsideration of their recent Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman decisions – and invited the submission of amicus briefs. You can read and download them here:

Who produced them? Well, Ogilvie amicus briefs were filed by:

Morrow & Morrow
International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals
The Travelers Companies Inc.
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner
California Workers’ Compensation Institute

The Almaraz/Guzman briefs were filed by:

California Applicants’ Attorneys Association
California Chamber of Commerce-CSAC Excess Insurance Authority
County of Los Angeles
California Self-Insured Employers Association
California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery
California Workers’ Compensation Institute
Department of Industrial Relations Director John Duncan
Employers Direct Insurance Company
Phil Walker, Esq.
Phil Walker, Judicial Notice Request
Protected Insurance Program for Schools
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner
Safeway Inc.-The Boeing Co.-Schools Insurance Authority
San Diego Schools Joint Powers Authority
International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals
Morrow & Morrow
The Travelers Companies Inc.

After reviewing the above list, I have to wonder: Why doesn’t CAAA have an amicus brief for Ogilvie? Does anyone know?

Ogilvie, Almaraz, & Guzman: Reconsideration Granted! Amicus Briefs Allowed!

By Jay Shergill Posted on April 6, 2009 Posted in 1997 PDRS, 2005 PDRS, Almaraz / Guzman, AMA Guides, DFEC Rebuttal, Ogilvie, PDRater, Permanent Disability Rating Schedule, Permanent Partial Disability, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with aghazarian, almaraz, almarez, amicus, Amicus Brief, C Duncan, caplane, City And County Of San Francisco, commissioner, Compensation Appeals Board, Compensation Insurance Fund, Concurring Opinions, Crazy Stuff, Department Of Industrial Relations, En Banc, Enviroserve, guzman, Interested Party, Keenan, Kesselring, Majority Opinion, Milpitas Unified School District, new cases, order granting reconsideration, Pdrs, rebut 2005, rebut dfec, rebut pdrs, Rebuttal, recon, Sfo, Sjo, State Compensation Insurance, State Compensation Insurance Fund, Wanda, Wcab, wcab en banc

Need more time to think about Ogilvie, Almaraz, and Guzman? — Need more time to think about Ogilvie, Almaraz/Guzman?

Sometimes even the WCAB needs more time to think. ((Photo courtesy of radiospike photography))

On March 26, 2009, the director of the Department of Industrial Relations, John C. Duncan, issued a letter to the entire Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board asking them to vacate their own decisions and solicit argument and amicus briefs. Here’s a copy, courtesy of WCExec.com, the Letter from Director of DIR to WCAB re: Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman (3/26/2009).

On Monday April 6, 2009 the WCAB issued three Orders Granting Reconsideration and Order Allowing Amicus Briefs (en banc) in Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman. For your review:

What does the Order Granting Reconsideration of Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman mean for you?

Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman are still the law. Despite Commissioner Aghazarian’s two concurring opinions, the WCAB did not issue a stay of either Ogilvie or Almaraz/Guzman.
The WCAB has granted SCIF’s petition for reconsideration in Almaraz, granting reconsideration on their own motion in Guzman, and the parties’ petitions for reconsideration in Ogilvie. They have granted reconsideration on these cases to, “afford us a sufficient opporutnity to study the issues.” ((Hence, the “The Thinker” reference above…))
Any interested party may file an amicus brief no later than May 1, 2009 at 5pm.

How has Almaraz/Guzman changed workers’ compensation?

By Jay Shergill Posted on March 23, 2009 Posted in 2005 PDRS, Almaraz / Guzman, AMA Guides, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with 2005, almaraz, almarazguzman, almarez, almarez-guzman, ama 5th, Ama Guide, Ama Guidelines, analogize, Attorneys, Discovery, Doctors, En Banc, Evaluator, guzaman, guzman, impairment ratings, Pdrs, substantial medical evidence, Wcab

Clearly, Almaraz/Guzman has been a boon to the U.S. Postal Service. I’ve been receiving Almaraz/Guzman letters from Applicant attorneys on my files ever since the en banc decision came out. These letters typically fall into one of three categories:

Increased demands for settlement
Demands for additional discovery per Almaraz/Guzman
Letters to the PQME/AME requesting their opinions on impairment outside the AMA Guidelines to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fifth Edition

I’ve also heard of some doctors completely abandoning the AMA Guidelines to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fifth Edition, in favor of just analogizing impairment. This is not what was intended by the en banc panel in WCAB in Almaraz/Guzman.

Here’s what Almaraz/Guzman means for workers’ compensation practitioners:

It doesn’t mean you ignore the AMA Guidelines 5th Edition
It doesn’t mean you ignore the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule
You don’t apply the 1997 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule
The evaluator may analogize impairments not addressed by the AMA Guides
Before a doctor may analogize impairments, they must first assign impairment under the AMA Guides

So, remember:

Whether you agree with the AMA Guides or the 2005 PDRS they’re still the law of the land and must be addressed.
Whether you agree with Almaraz/Guzman, it’s still good law and must be addressed.
Almaraz/Guzman does not absolve a doctor from the responsibility to generate a medical report which addresses the AMA Guides and constitutes substantial medical evidence.

500 Registered Users!

By Jay Shergill Posted on March 17, 2009 Posted in Almaraz / Guzman, Author, Business, Calculators, Case Law, COLA, Free, Ogilvie, PDRater, SAWW, Technobabble, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources No Comments Tagged with 500, almaraz, benson, Beta Testing, Calculator, Compensation Cases, Compensation Professionals, dfec, En Banc, Glasses, guzman, Indy 500, Milestones, online glasses, online glasses review, Pupillary Distance, Rebuttal, sif, Spike, Wcab, Workers Compensation, xyzzx

Wow! 500 registered users!

Last month I mentioned that this website had a record number of new visitors. I honestly thought that was an anomalous one day spike in traffic. Instead we’ve had a sustained increase in new visitors and people signing up to use the workers’ compensation calculators for free.

Since February 13, 2009 ((When the 400th user registered.)) I’ve enjoyed posting about:

New Important Workers’ Compensation Cases
Two New Calculators
- Ogilvie DFEC Rebuttal Calculator
- XYZZXSJO2 Future Life Pension Rate with COLA/SAWW Increases ((I am keeping this calculator in beta testing until I get a little more feedback. If you want to try it out, just drop me a line!))
Online Glasses – Reviewed!
PDRater.com Milestones:
- 400 registered users!
- 300 registered users!
- 200 registered users!
- 100 registered users!
- PDRater.com is one year old!
- Relaunch of PDRater.com!

Ever since I relaunched this website I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind that getting to 500 users would be a big deal. There are literally hundreds of workers’ compensation professionals who rely on this website and its calculators to make their lives a little easier. This certainly feels like a big deal to me.

Tag: almaraz