From www.workerscompzone.com

San Francisco Workers' Compensation Judge Jacqueline Duncan has issued a 51-page decision (Scott Boughner vs Comp USA and Zurich North America) which rules that the Schwarzenegger administration's revision of the permanent disability schedule is invalid. It's a decision that will create great waves in California Workers' Compensation circles.

You can download a copy of the decision by clicking here.

It is potentially very significant to claimants who were injured after 1/1/05 (and to many workers hurt before 1/1/05 who may not fall within the "exceptions" that would place them under the "old" schedule). Meanwhile, if you are a claimant reading this, you should note that this decision will most probably be appealed. It is not binding on other Workers' Compensation judges, but may well be followed by many of them until the statewide WCAB tells them otherwise. The statewide Workers' Compensation Appeals Board will be forced to deal with this issue.

The decision involves some complicated legal issues regarding what the legislature required of the Administrative Director in implementing a new post-SB899 rating schedule.

These are Judge Duncan's key findings:

• The Administrative Director failed to base the adjusted rating schedule on empirical data and findings from the RAND Institute for Civil Justice study as required by Labor Code Section 4660(b)(2).
  The Administrative Director failed to base the adjusted rating schedule on data from additional empirical studies, as required by Labor Code 4660(b)(2)
• The new schedule adopts translation factors (translating impairment percentages into disability percentages) that are inconsistent with Labor Code 4660(b)(2).