ROUND VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Permissibly Self-Insured, Adjusted by KEENAN & ASSOCIATES SANDRA MALVESTI WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIASANDRA MALVESTI, Applicant,vs.ROUND VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Permissibly Self-Insured, Adjustedby KEENAN & ASSOCIATES, Defendants.Case Nos. ADJ1805281 (SRO 0129031)ADJ2019182 (SRO 0129032)OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING RECONSIDERATION ANDDECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION Applicant’s attorney, Richard J. Meechan, seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Order Re: Attorney’s Fees, issued May 18, 2012, in which a workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) found $7,094.55 to be a reasonable fee for his services and ordered Mr. Meechan to take nothing further. The WCJ ordered defendant’s third party adjuster to pay $7,107.45 to applicant, Sandra Malvesti, representing the sum previously ordered withheld when the Compromise and Release Agreement was approved on February 7, 2012. Applicant’s attorney contends the WCJ erred in excluding the funds used to establish the Medicare Set-Aside Trust when calculating the award of a reasonable attorney’s fee, arguing that there is no rational basis for limiting the funds from which a fee may be awarded to the unencumbered portion of the settlement proceeds. For the reasons more fully set forth below, we shall grant reconsideration, rescind the Findings and Order and return this matter to the trial level to conduct further proceedings into the claims raised in applicant’s May 29, 2012 unverified letter regarding the conduct of applicant’s attorney in obtaining applicant’s approval of the Compromise and Release Agreement, as indicated in the November 18, 2011 joint letter.I. By Stipulated Award issued March 27, 2007, applicant settled her claims for industrial , cumulative trauma injuries while employed as a school bus driver to her right knee, right shoulder, back and neck over the cumulative period ending April 4
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