March 17, 2026 2026 Forecast in California Workers’ Compensation With 2026 under way, California workers’ compensation stakeholders are entering a more restrained legislative and judicial climate as the state transitions into a midterm election cycle. The California Legislature and Governor Newsom have adjourned a session marked by heightened concern over insurer-borne costs, signaling that future Labor Code amendments may trend toward moderation rather than expansion. Nevertheless, legislative debate is expected to continue into 2026, particularly around industry-specific rebuttable presumptions and […]
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Category: Newsletters
March 17, 2026 When AI Hallucinates the Law: Sedano and Noland Show the Cost of Generated Legal Writing What clients need to know about AI-generated citations, sanctions exposure, and the safeguards LFLM uses to protect your files. Generative AI can speed up routine legal work, such as drafting e-mails and summarizing documents. However, when it invents quotations or cites cases that do not exist, courts are imposing real sanctions and, in some instances, referring counsel to the State Bar. Two 2025 decisions – Sedano v. […]
December 2025 Over the years, the “Going and Coming Rule” has often been defined more by its exceptions than by the rule itself. The rule states that an injury occurring off the employer’s premises during an employee’s normal commute to or from work is not compensable. However, there are many exceptions to this general rule which have developed since the rule was established by the California Supreme Court in the 1916 case of Ocean Accident and Guarantee Co. v. IAC […]
December 2025 The Division of Workers’ Compensation has announced the 2026 rate increases for the minimum and maximum rates of temporary total disability. For 2026, the minimum weekly rate will increase from $252.03 to $264.61, and the maximum will increase from $1,680.29 to $1,764.11. The minimum and maximum rates are increasing by 4.9%, which is in line with the percentage increase in the State Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) as mandated by Labor Code Section 4453(a)(10). This is significantly higher than […]
December 2025 Many of you are likely familiar with the existing, traditional concepts of subrogation and credit rights in California’s workers compensation system as set forth in Labor Code section 3852 et seq. It’s bad enough when an employee is unfortunate enough to sustain a significant industrial injury – but when that injury is caused by a negligent third party, it’s all the more frustrating. The silver lining in these cases involving third party defendants, of course, is that the […]
In the Trenches: A Recap of the Winter 2025 California Applicant’s Attorneys Association Convention?
July 2025 On March 27, 2025 Jonathan Liff, Partner, Sacramento and John Orman, Partner, Fresno presented intel they obtained from our adversaries while attending the four-day California Applicant’s Attorneys Association’s (CAAA) Winter 2025 Convention(Jan. 23-26) and consisting of over 20 hours of material presented by applicant’s attorneys, medical legal examiners, vocational experts and judges. The goal of the convention was to provide applicant’s attorneys with a “Roadmap to Excellence.” For the defense, attending the convention provided great insight into what […]
July 2025 Temporary disability is an important workers’ compensation benefit with some complex nuances. The purpose of temporary disability is to financially compensate an injured worker for lost wages due to their industrial injury, payable as either temporary total disability or temporary partial disability. Generally, temporary total disability is owed when an injured worker cannot work at all due to their industrial injury, or where their work restrictions cannot be accommodated by an employer. Temporary partial disability, also known as […]
March 27, 2025 Vast changes are swiftly approaching regarding the efforts Workers’ Compensation practitioners must make in protecting Medicare’s interests in future medical settlements. The Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) has revised several sections of its Guidelines for Medicare Set-Asides (MSA’s). The first change is to section 4.2 of its guidelines for MSA’s, which took effect January 17, 2025. While many of the guidelines we have come to accept will go unchanged, there are two primary changes that must be […]
March 27, 2025 The recent Barahona v. ABM Janitorial Services (2024) 53 CWCR 4, decision sheds light on a common but often misunderstood issue in California workers’ compensation: how liability is shared among multiple employers and insurers. When a worker has claims involving multiple coverage periods or employers, determining liability for indemnity and medical expenses is complex. However, understanding the distinction between contribution and reimbursement is key to ensuring fair cost allocation and avoiding unnecessary financial exposure. Contribution and Reimbursement: The Basics […]
January 31, 2025 In 2024, Californian workers faced a tempered legislative and judicial climate following an exciting election cycle from 2024. The California State Legislature and Governor Newsom have adjourned a legislative session that conflicted in a post-Covid landscape with ongoing attempts by the California Legislature to enact laws regarding utilization review and workplace safety, which failed as a result of vetoes by Governor Newsom. In addition, the WCAB issued several key decisions affecting combination of permanent impairments, and defense […]