What the panel ordered
Petition for Reconsideration granted; Findings and Order affirmed except amended to order defendant to pay interest and penalties until full payment of medical-legal charges
Petition for Reconsideration filed by cost petitioner seeking interest and penalties on unpaid medical-legal charges, after WCJ's Findings and Order issued June 26, 2025
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 WCAB found that defendant unreasonably failed to pay the medical-legal charges and that cost petitioner is entitled to penalties and interest on the unpaid amount until full payment is made.
The facts that decided it
What the panel treated as outcome-determinative, and which side it favoured.
Defendant did not challenge the WCJ's finding that its conduct was unreasonable under Labor Code Section 4622(a)
Favours Applicant prevailed
This supported the order for penalties and interest on unpaid medical-legal charges
Judge Owensby's May 30, 2024 Order was erroneous and did not provide a reasonable basis for defendant to withhold payment
Favours Applicant prevailed
This supported continuation of penalties and interest until full payment
What the panel did with the medical opinions
The role the physician served, and the weight the opinion carried. Physicians are named here as the decision names them; we do not score them.
Found industrial injury to the left shoulder, right wrist and hand and lumbar spine; recommended temporary partial disability with work restrictions; if no modified work was available, would be temporary total disability.
His report was the basis for the medical-legal charges at issue and was found reasonable and necessary.
Found cumulative trauma industrial injury to left shoulder, left trapezial and left carpal tunnel syndrome; no industrial causation for low back or left knee; no temporary total or partial disability as applicant never missed work before layoff.
His findings were used to argue that the medical-legal report was duplicative and unnecessary, but the WCAB found disputed issues remained.
The rules the panel named
Authorities as the decision cited them, with how this panel applied each one.
Labor Code Section 4622(a)
Labor Code Section 4622(a) mandates penalties and interest on unpaid medical-legal charges when a WCJ finds unreasonable failure to pay
Applied to order defendant to pay penalties and interest until full payment
Labor Code Section 5909
Labor Code Section 5909 governs the timing for Appeals Board action on petitions for reconsideration
Applied to determine timeliness of petition for reconsideration
From the decision · page 2Former Labor Code section 59092 provided that a petition for reconsideration was deemed denied unless the Appeals Board acted on the petition within 60 days from the date of filing. (Lab. Code, § 5909.) Effective July 2, 2024, section 5909 was amended to state in relevant part that:
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, 10964(a)
Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, 10964(a) allows acceptance of supplemental pleadings in reconsideration petitions
Applied to accept supplemental pleading filed by cost petitioner
From the decision · page 1On July 22, 2025, cost petitioner filed a Petition for Approval to File a Supplemental Pleading and a Supplemental Pleading. We accept and have considered the Supplemental Pleading. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10964(a).)
What proof carried it
The evidence the panel weighed, by kind.
Judge Owensby's May 30, 2024 Order created reasonable doubt as to whether Dr. Mirzaians qualifies as a medical-legal provider, causing defendant to delay payment
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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.
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