Hollingsworth

*929 INTRODUCTION

"Pursuant to constitutional mandate, the Legislature has vested the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) with exclusive jurisdiction over claims for workers' compensation benefits. ( Cal. Const., art. XIV, § 4, Lab. Code, § 5300.)" ( La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, Inc. v. Industrial Indemnity Co. (1994) 9 Cal.4th 27 , 35, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 100 , 884 P.2d 1048 .) Thus, in an action involving a worker injured during his or her employment, "the superior court and the WCAB ... 'do not have concurrent jurisdiction over the whole of the controversy, and one of them will be without jurisdiction to grant any relief whatsoever, depending upon whether or not the injuries were ... covered by the workmen's compensation laws.' " ( Ibid. ) "The only point of concurrent jurisdiction of the two tribunals is jurisdiction to determine *853 jurisdiction; jurisdiction once determined is exclusive, not concurrent." ( Ibid. )

This case presents the question of which tribunal-the superior court or the WCAB-had jurisdiction to determine which tribunal had exclusive jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has made clear that when a civil action and a workers' compensation proceeding are…