Zurich U.S., State Compensation Insurance Fund, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Kaiser Foundation Hospital Jack Hablian, Linda Esterly, Gene Baxter, Joseph Case, Omar Camacho WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAJACK HABLIAN, LINDA ESTERLY, GENE BAXTER, JOSEPH CASE, OMAR CAMACHO, Applicants,vs.ZURICH U.S., STATE COMPENSATION INSURANCE FUND, LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITAL, Defendants.Case No. ADJ4687742OPINION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATIONWe previously granted reconsideration to study the factual and legal issues.1 This is our Opinion and Decision After Reconsideration.Applicants seek reconsideration of the Findings and Order (on Class Certification) (F&O) issued by a workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) on September 30, 2016, which found that applicants had not established the elements of ascertainability, numerosity, commonality, typicality, adequacy, and predominance, which includes superiority and manageability; and denied applicants’ petition for class certification.Applicants contend that: when the WCJ restricted applicants’ discovery and then denied certification based on evidence “to which [they] did not have access,’’ he denied their right to due process “to full and complete discovery’’; the WCJ failed to carry out his “obligation to find solutions for managing individual issues’’ so that the matter could proceed as a class action; the WCJ failed to give proper weight to their evidence with respect to the class certification elements; the methodological 1 Commissioner Brass, who was on the panel that granted reconsideration, no longer serves on the Appeals Board. Another panelist was appointed in his place. , criticisms of the algorithm may be easily remedied during additional or merits discovery; it was not the proper time to determine the merits issues raised by defendants; defendants’ remaining criticisms pertain to merits issues (that is, defendants’ affirmative defenses) and do not
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