Bowen

Petitioner and applicant Mitchel Bowen, a California resident, suffered an injury in Florida while playing professional baseball for a minor league team owned by the Florida Marlins. He applied for benefits under the California Workers’ Compensation Act. The workers’ compensation judge found that the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) had jurisdiction over the injury because Bowen’s contract of hire was made in California. Upon reconsideration, the WCAB,.in a two-to-one decision, ruled that it was without jurisdiction to proceed with Bowen’s claim because the contract of hire was not made in California. We conclude that the WCAB erred in deciding that it did not have jurisdiction over Bowen’s injury.

The Facts

The facts are not in dispute and are as follows. Bowen, bom and raised in the Los Angeles area, played baseball at St. Francis High School in La Canada, California, and at College of the Canyons in Valencia, California. While playing at the college, he came to the attention of Grady Mack, a Marlins’ scout who also resided in California. In 1992, the Marlins drafted *18 Bowen and Mack advised Bowen of this fact by telephone. Mack and Bowen entered into…

I concur in the majority opinion, which masterfully and comprehensively reviews the authorities bearing on this important issue. I concur separately simply to note that the course of case law development in this area has unnecessarily complicated the law, and that the detailed contractual analyses presented in the briefs, to which the majority opinion properly responds, should not be necessary in every future case.

Labor Code section 3600.5 appears in chapter 3 of part 1 (“Conditions of Compensation Liability”). It provides that an employee injured out of state during the course of his employment is entitled to compensation under California’s workers’ compensation laws if he “has been hired ... in the state.” (Italics added.) Labor Code section 5305, by contrast, is contained in chapter 1 (“Jurisdiction”) of part 4 (“Compensation Proceedings”). This chapter begins by defining the “exclusive jurisdiction” of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB). (Lab. Code, § 5300.) Section 5305 complements other sections (see, e.g., Lab. Code, § 3602) to confirm that the exclusive subject matter jurisdiction of the WCAJ3 extends to out-of-state employee injuries “where ... the contract…

Petitioner and applicant Mitchel Bowen, a California resident, suffered an injury in Florida while playing professional baseball for a minor league team owned by the Florida Marlins. He applied for benefits under the California Workers' Compensation Act. The workers' compensation judge found that the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) had jurisdiction over the injury because Bowen's contract of hire was made in California. Upon reconsideration, the WCAB, in a two-to-one decision, ruled that it was without jurisdiction to proceed with Bowen's claim because the contract of hire was not made in California. We conclude that the WCAB erred in deciding that it did not have jurisdiction over Bowen's injury.

The facts are not in dispute and are as follows. Bowen, born and raised in the Los Angeles area, played baseball at St. Francis High School in La Canada, California, and at College of the Canyons in Valencia, California. While playing at the college, he came to the attention of Grady Mack, a Marlins' scout who also resided in California. In 1992, the Marlins drafted Bowen and Mack advised Bowen of this fact by telephone. Mack and Bowen entered into…