Here we are in 2022 and ready to bravely face all the new fun and adventure that awaits us.

Gregory Grinberg

There is just so much to go over that it won’t fit in a blog post, possibly not even 10 blog posts, but let’s do our best and see how far we get.

Most urgently, the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board announced new regulations effective on Jan. 1 in terms of procedures to be observed before the board, which can be viewed in full here.

I would suggest everyone, attorney and adjuster alike, review these new rules. But here are the big takeaways, at least according to me:

1. Attorneys and hearing representatives must now list their email address in any notice of representation, and service can now be effected by email, even without prior consent — but a proof of service must reflect the email used for service.
2. The WCAB has authority to make any hearing electronic, including trials and expedited hearings, and notice of hearing must reflect whether the hearing will be electronic or in-person. If a party objects to a trial or expedited hearing being conducted electronically, it must make an objection, and the presiding judge should make a ruling on the issue. A party may request to appear electronically for an in-person hearing by filing a petition to that effect and citing good cause.
3. Parties must meet and confer BEFORE a mandatory settlement conference and should have a completed pretrial conference statement ready to be filed before the end of the hearing. Further, each party must have a person available with settlement authority at every hearing, and defendants must have a benefits printout available for inspection at the mandatory settlement conference.

So, what do I recommend?

When the claims department gets notice of hearing, THAT is the time to provide your attorney with a current benefits printout and to make sure that there is settlement authority, or at least schedule a time to talk to your attorney to provide settlement authority.

There also needs to be someone prepared to address settlement at every hearing. This means adjusters must adopt similar procedures with their attorneys. If you can’t be available on the day of the hearing by phone, someone else needs to be.

In determining whether to ask that a hearing be held in person or electronically, one of the issues to consider is whether credibility is at issue and what is the best way to allow the trial judge to assess it. While an electronic trial allows the judge to see the witnesses without a mask, variables such as camera quality and internet connection might make that determination less effective as compared to in-person testimony with a mask on.

Buckle up. The fun is just beginning.

Gregory Grinberg is managing partner of Gale, Sutow & Associates’ S.F. Bay South office and a certified specialist in workers’ compensation law. This post is reprinted with permission from Grinberg’s WCDefenseCA blog.