Adams

Petitioner Robert L. Adams seeks review of a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Board), following reconsid eration, refusing to apply to medical-legal costs a 10 percent penalty against respondent carrier, Beaver Insurance Company (Beaver), for unreasonable delay in paying compensation. (Lab. Code, § 5814.) We have concluded that the penalty provided in section 5814 should be so applied.

On June 1, 1971, petitioner sustained an injury to the lower portion of his body while employed as a heavy construction carpenter by Granite & Stolte Construction Company. Beaver, the employer’s compensation carrier, provided medical treatment, hospitalization and surgery which was performed on June 30, 1971. After an apparently satisfactory recuperation, petitioner returned to work in the middle of September, but soon experienced further lower body pain and rectal and urinary difficulties. A long period of diagnosis and treatment ensued during which petitioner was examined and treated by a number of physicians, psychiatrists and chiropractors. He has not worked since November 1971.

On June 25, 1975, the referee filed findings and award, finding that the injuiy caused…