Waters

A workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) imposed a 10 percent increase or penalty on T. J. Waters’s temporary and permanent disability benefits pursuant to Labor Code section 5814 because he found that each species of benefit was unreasonably delayed by defendants, Warner Constructors, Inc., and its insurance carrier, California Compensation Insurance Company. Defendants filed a petition for reconsideration with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) appealing the 10 percent penalty imposed on the permanent disability benefits. The WCAB granted reconsideration, rescinded the findings and award, and remanded the matter finding that the WCJ failed to specify the basis for imposing the penalty and confused the facts of the case.

After the second trial, the WCJ again found that the temporary and permanent disability payments were unreasonably delayed and imposed a 10 percent penalty on each specie of benefit. Defendants again filed a petition for reconsideration appealing the 10 percent penalty imposed on permanent disability benefits. The WCAB granted the petition and issued a decision rescinding the 10 percent penalty on permanent disability benefits stating that the…