What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration granted; Notice of Intention to Impose Sanctions issued against defendant Palm Springs Unified School District, Keenan & Associates, defense attorney Kalani E. Lopez, and law firm Michael Sullivan & Associates, LLP; no final decision on merits yet.
Applicant seeks reconsideration of the August 19, 2024 Findings and Order denying new and further disability and a QME request; the WCJ recommended denial of the Petition for Reconsideration; the Appeals Board granted reconsideration and issued a Notice of Intention to Impose Sanctions.
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The Appeals Board found defendant's citation of an unpublished case after admonishment to be a willful violation causing unnecessary delay, justifying sanctions under Labor Code section 5813 and WCAB Rule 10421.
From the decision · page 4Defendant does not explain, nor are we able to discern, how the exceptions listed in rule 8.1115(b) apply to their citation of the unpublished Hancock case. (See Colombo v. Kinkle, Rodiger & Spriggs, (2019) 35 Cal.App.5th 407, 417, fn. 9 ["[exception (b)(1) only applies when the unpublished opinion is an appeal or writ from the same case or a related matter involving the same parties or parties in privity, and the question is whether res judicata, collateral estoppel, or law of the case should apply based on the earlier opinion. Simply because an unpublished case mentions one of these doctrines does not make it citable."].)