Workers Comp Zone

A Partner at Boxer & Gerson LLP, Julius Young has practiced worker’s compensation law and social security disability law since 1979. He has represented thousands of individuals who have sustained life-changing injuries or illnesses while on the job. In every case, his goal is to secure the medical treatments his clients need.

June 11, 2012

LOOKING TO NOVEMBER

It’s a strange time. There’s a lot of populism in the air. Folks on the left and right are suspicious of big money. But unions have not been able to capitalize on these conditions. Unions are seen by many as part of the problem, particularly public worker unions. Labor suffered a grievous loss in Wisconsin […]


June 7, 2012

SPINAL HARDWARE SAVINGS

One area of potential cost savings that are clearly in the political crosshairs are spinal hardware costs. The issue is currently hot a the legislature considers AB 959. Spinal hardware costs have been under increased scrutiny since a 2005 report prepared for CHSWC by RAND, written by Barbara O. Wynn and Giacomo Bergamo, “Payment for […]


June 2, 2012

VALDEZ AND MPNS

The Court of Appeals decision in Valdez got me thinking further about MPNs. If reports from non-MPN doctors are admissible, will this just accelerate efforts by some attorneys and defendants to “treat on a lien”, accelerating the lien problem that plagues California’s workers’ comp system, particularly in the Los Angeles area? Clearly Valdez tells us […]


May 31, 2012

VALDEZ

The wait for a ruling in Valdez is over. The California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 7 has spoken in Elayne Valdez v. WCAB and Warehouse Demo Services. The Court reversed a WCAB holding that precluded use of reports from non-MPN treating physicians under all circumstances. In Valdez the worker treated briefly with MPN […]


May 28, 2012

DAHL

After the Court of Appeals holding in Ogilvie, many of us have been waiting to see what the WCAB would do. How would the WCAB interpret the 1st DCA’s Ogilvie decision? In its decision the Court of Appeals rejected the mathematical formula that the WCAB had developed for possible rebuttal of the PD schedule but […]


May 23, 2012

THE GREAT DIVIDE

Sometimes there is a great divide between what an injured work can receive in the workers’ comp system and in the civil justice system. Being a no fault system, workers’ comp was not designed to “make workers whole”. Although workers’ comp benefits are payable regardless of who was at fault in causing the injury, those […]


May 21, 2012

AB 1687

If there is one thing that leaves injured workers frustrated, it’s the procedures that frequently result in treatment denials. Between 2005 and 2010, medical cost containment expenses almost quadrupled. That includes expenses for utilization review and bill review. Insurers assert that without cost containment procedures, medical treatment costs would be even higher, resulting in unsustainable […]