What the panel ordered
The WCAB rescinded the Supplemental Findings of Fact, Orders and Notice of Intention to Impose Sanctions, and the Order Imposing Sanctions and Reasonable Attorney's Fee, and returned the matter to the WCJ for further proceedings.
Applicant filed two Petitions for Reconsideration regarding the WCJ's findings that her low back injury claim was barred by a Compromise and Release and the imposition of sanctions; the WCAB granted reconsideration to further study the issues.
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 C&R did not identify or include the low back as an injured or claimed body part, and the parties did not intend to include it in the settlement.
From the decision · page 4The C&R does not identify the low back as an injured or claimed body part. As noted by the WCJ, the parties were aware of the disputed body part (low back) when entering into the settlement, but the C&R did not include and/or mention the low back. In that the parties "edited" the C&R by striking parts of its original language, and they did not include and/or strike the low back as an injured body part, there is no basis for assuming the parties intended to include the low back in the settlement of the injury claim.