DPR Construction and National Union Fire Insurance Nicholas Barragan WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIANICHOLAS BARRAGAN, Applicant,vs.DPR CONSTRUCTION ANDNATIONAL UNION FIRE INSURANCE, Defendant(s).Case No. ADJ6925626OPINION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION On April 12, 2010, we granted defendant’s petition for reconsideration in order to allow sufficient opportunity to further study the factual and legal issues in this case. This is our decision after reconsideration. Applicant, while employed as an apprentice carpenter/drywaller on October 31, 2006, claims to have sustained an industrial injury to his neck and low back. According to the stipulation of the parties at trial on December 7, 2009, the employer furnished some medical treatment. The claims administrator issued a written notice of denial of the claim on January 4, 2007 (Defendant’s Exhibit A). On May 3, 2007, defendant’s counsel wrote to applicant’s attorney, enclosing a notice from the Division of Workers’ Compensation that there was no record of a case file for his client and requesting that applicant file an Application for Adjudication of Claim if he wished to proceed with discovery and resolution of the claim (Defendant’s Exhibit B). Nonetheless, the Application for Adjudication of Claim was not filed until September 10, 2009. After trial the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) filed a Findings and Award dated December 22, 2009, finding that applicant had sustained an industrial injury on October 31, 2006, and that he required further medical treatment. , Defendant filed a petition for reconsideration on February 11, 2010. Defendant contends that the petition is timely although filed fifty-one days after the filing of the Findings and Award, that the claim is barred by the statute of limitations, and that the preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the injury did not occur as claimed by applicant. Applican
