Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board v. Small Claims Court

Petitioner, Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board, seeks prohibition to prevent respondent, Small Claims Court, San Leandro-Hayward Judicial District, from proceeding to trial on two small claims actions on the ground that the subject matter of the actions is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board.

The board has supplemented the record originally presented to us by providing copies of the claims filed in the small claims court and of its order approving compromise and release in the matter of Clifford Shans v. Early-Winston-Drake and National Surety Corporation of California, case No. 69 OAK 30031, filed January 31, 1973. An examination of the record, as supplemented by the board, discloses that the matter arose when respondent, Dr. Milton Righetti, dissatisfied with a $250 award for his services as a medical witness for respondent, Clifford Shans, in a workmen’s compensation proceeding, filed an action in respondent, small claims court, against respondent, Homer Sidlow, one of several attorneys who had represented the claimant and with whom he had consultations, seeking an additional $350 for “consultation and hearing-appearance service.” Respondent Sidlow…