Mercedes-Benz Of San Francisco, And Auto Dealers Compensation Of California, Administered By Intercare Insurance Company Paul Cruz WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAPAUL CRUZ, Applicant,Vs.MERCEDES-BENZ OF SAN FRANCISCO, and AUTO DEALERS COMPENSATION OF CALIFORNIA, administered by INTERCARE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant(s). Case No. SFO 0501425OPINION AND DECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION (EN BANC) The Appeals Board granted defendant’s petition for reconsideration to allow time to study the record and applicable law. Because of the important legal issue as to the scope of the amputation exception to the two-year/104-week cap on temporary disability indemnity in Labor Code section 4656(c)(2)(C),1and in order to secure uniformity of decision in the future, the Chairman of the Appeals Board, upon a majority vote of its members, assigned this case to the Appeals Board as a whole for an en banc decision. (Lab. Code, § 115.) 2/////////////// 1 All further statutory references are to the Labor Code.2 En banc decisions of the Appeals Board are binding precedent on all Appeals Board panels and workers’ compensation judges. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10341; City of Long Beach v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (Garcia) (2005) 126 Cal.App.4th 298, 313, fn. 5 [70 Cal.Comp.Cases 109, 120, fn. 5]; Gee v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd. (2002) 96 Cal.App.4th 1418, 1425, fn. 6 [67 Cal.Comp.Cases 236, 239, fn. 6]; see also Govt. Code, § 11425.60(b).) , For the reasons discussed below, we hold that the word “amputations,” as used in section 4656(c)(2)(C),3 means the severance or removal of a limb, part of a limb, or other body appendage, including both traumatic loss in an industrial injury and surgical removal during treatment of an industrial injury. This definition conforms to our understanding of the common meaning of the term “amputation,” which encompasses external projecting body parts, not internal parts, even if they include bone.BACKGROUND
