Metropolitan Transit Authority Lowell Baptiste WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIALOWELL BAPTISTE, Applicant,vs.METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY, Defendant.Case No. ADJ519728OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING RECONSIDERATION AND ORDERS COMPELLING NEW MEDICAL EVALUATIONS Defendant seeks reconsideration of the Amended Findings and Award of June 1, 2011, in which the workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) found, in relevant part, that on February 22, 2000, applicant sustained industrial injury to his hips, legs, neck, left upper extremity, left shoulder, both lower extremities, psyche and chronic pain syndrome, causing temporary total disability beginning February 22, 2000 to May 13, 2011, and continuing indefinitely thereafter. Defendant contends, in substance, that the WCJ erred in relying on the medical opinion of Dr. Shaw, and that the medical evidence does not justify the WCJ’s finding of temporary total disability from February 22, 2000 to May 13, 2011 and continuing. Applicant filed an answer. The WCJ submitted a Report and Recommendation. We begin by observing that applicant’s original claim of injury has been outstanding for more than a decade without final resolution. Consistent with the following discussion, we will grant reconsideration and refer this matter to new “regular physicians” in the fields of orthopedics and psychiatry, in order to steer this matter towards final resolution. (McDuffie v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (2002) 67 Cal.Comp.Cases 138 [Appeals Board en banc].) It appears that this matter proceeded to trial and was submitted on May 4, 2011, but there are no Minutes of Hearing and no Summary of Evidence from May 4, 2011 in the Electronic Adjudication , Management System (EAMS). In the future, the WCJ should follow Hernandez v. AMS Staff Leasing (2011) 76 Cal.Comp.Cases 343 [Significant Panel Decision], which requires creation of an understandable,
Lowell Baptiste vs. Metropolitan Transit Authority
In this case, the Metropolitan Transit Authority sought reconsideration of the Amended Findings and Award of June 1, 2011, in which the workers' compensation judge found that Lowell Baptiste had sustained an industrial injury to his hips, legs, neck, left upper extremity, left shoulder, both lower extremities, psyche and chronic pain syndrome, causing temporary total disability beginning February 22, 2000 to May 13, 2011, and continuing indefinitely thereafter. The Board granted reconsideration and ordered new medical evaluations from a regular physician in orthopedics and psychiatry in order to steer the matter towards final resolution.
- Filed On:
- Court: California, San Francisco
- Case No. ADJ519728
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