“Very thankful for everything they did for us. Always responsive, reassured us every step of the way and obtained a great result.”
Miguel Orellana
Workers' Comp Appeal Attorney in Chatsworth, California
Certified Specialist (CA Bar)No Fee Unless We Win (Costs May Apply)Millions RecoveredSe Habla Español
- Years of Practice
- 14+
- Cases Handled
- 500+ over 14+ years of practice
- Recovered
- $7M+ over 14+ years of practice
- Bilingual + Farsi
- English + Español + Farsi
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization · Cal Bar #285231
Did the insurance company deny your Chatsworth workers' comp claim, or stop benefits you were already getting? A denial can feel like the final word. It is not. It is where your appeal begins, and starting it costs you nothing up front.
Move quickly, because the clock is short. A denied treatment usually gives you only 30 days to appeal. A bad ruling from a judge gives you about 20 to 25 days. Most appeals out of Chatsworth run through the Van Nuys district office of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. We know that office, its judges, and the denials that hit Chatsworth's aerospace shops, warehouses, and post-production crews.
Here is what to do right now:
- Find your denial letter and read the date. Your appeal clock starts the day it was served. Do not throw it away.
- Calendar the deadline today. A denied treatment is 30 days. A judge's decision is roughly 20 to 25 days. Miss it, and you can lose the right to appeal.
- Call before that date passes. One free call tells you which path is yours: (661) 273-1780. The sooner you call, the more we can do.
Was your Chatsworth claim denied? You can fight it.
Almost always, yes. A denied claim, a denied treatment, or a cut benefit check can each be appealed. Act before your short deadline runs out.
Insurers deny Chatsworth claims for a familiar handful of reasons. They say your injury did not happen at work. They call your worn-out back or wrist a pre-existing condition. They reject the surgery or therapy your doctor ordered. Or a judge rules against you after a hearing. Each one is a different problem, with a different fix.
Picture an aerospace machinist whose shoulder gave out after years at the bench. Or a warehouse picker near the Chatsworth Metrolink yards whose claim came back stamped denied. The letter feels final. It is not. It is a starting gun. Below, we walk through each appeal path in plain English.
UR vs IMR vs a WCAB appeal: which path is yours?
It depends on what got denied. A denied treatment goes to medical review. A denied claim or a bad ruling goes to the appeals board.
There are two very different kinds of denial, and they travel two different roads. Knowing which road you are on is the whole game. Choose wrong, or miss the deadline, and a winnable case can slip away.
Denied treatment: utilization review, then IMR
Say your doctor orders an MRI, a surgery, or physical therapy. The insurer first sends it to its own utilization review. If that review says no, you do not argue it with the insurer. You appeal to Independent Medical Review, and you have 30 days from the denial to file. An outside doctor then checks the decision against the state treatment guidelines.
Here is the hard part most workers never hear. Under §4610.6, that medical review result is usually the end of the road.
Labor Code §4610.6(g): "The determination of the independent medical review organization shall be deemed to be the determination of the administrative director and shall be binding on all parties."
Binding means binding. You can challenge an IMR result only on narrow grounds, such as fraud, a conflict of interest, or clear bias. And you have only 30 days to do it. That is why the first appeal must be done right. We build the medical record before the deadline. The reviewing doctor then sees the failed conservative care, the imaging, and your treating doctor's reasons.
Denied claim or a judge's bad call: a Petition for Reconsideration
The other road is for a denied claim, or for a judge's decision you believe is wrong. After a trial, the judge issues a Findings and Award. If it goes against you, your move is a Petition for Reconsideration under §5903. It asks the appeals board to take a second look. The deadline is short: 25 days if the decision was mailed, 20 days if it was served electronically.
If the board turns down reconsideration, you are still not finished. You can ask the Court of Appeal to review it by writ, within 45 days. And if your case closed but your injury later got worse, you may be able to reopen it. You have five years from the original injury. Each step has its own strict clock.
How long do you have to appeal?
Not long. Most appeal deadlines run 20 to 45 days. A closed case can reopen within five years. Missing a deadline can end your case.
Workers' comp appeals live and die by deadlines. The table below lays out the main ones. These are statewide rules, so they apply whether your case sits at the Van Nuys WCAB or anywhere else in California. When in doubt about your date, call before you assume it has passed.
| What was denied | Your appeal route | Deadline | Law |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treatment denied at Utilization Review | Independent Medical Review | 30 days from the denial | §4610.5 |
| IMR upheld the denial | Appeal only on narrow grounds (fraud, bias, conflict) | 30 days | §4610.6 |
| A judge's decision (Findings & Award) | Petition for Reconsideration | 25 days if mailed, 20 if served electronically | §5903 |
| Reconsideration denied | Writ of Review to the Court of Appeal | 45 days | §5950 |
| New or worse disability after a closed case | Petition to Reopen | Within 5 years of the injury | §5803 |
Unsure how much time you have left? One quick call settles it: (661) 273-1780.
What does the appeal process actually look like?
You file the appeal, build the medical evidence, and argue it to a judge or a reviewer. Most cases settle once the record is strong.
An appeal is not one dramatic day in court. It is a series of steps. First, we file the right petition or IMR appeal before your deadline. Next, we gather the proof: medical reports, imaging, and the opinion of a neutral panel doctor. Then we argue your case, either before a Van Nuys judge or through the written medical review. Along the way there is often a settlement conference, where the judge nudges both sides toward a deal. If that fails, the case is set for trial. We prepare you for each step.
Most appeals do not end in a trial. Once the evidence is strong and the insurer sees it, the case usually settles. A wrongly denied claim can become restored medical care plus back-owed disability checks. When an appeal puts a serious injury back on track, the recovery can be large. Our firm has recovered up to $5,000,000 for a catastrophic spinal-cord injury and $1,500,000 for a cervical-spine injury. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes, because every case is different.
What evidence wins a workers' comp appeal?
Strong medical proof. The reviewing doctor or judge needs records that tie your injury to your job and show why the denied care is necessary.
Appeals are won on the medical record, not on who argues loudest. To overturn a denied treatment, you show that cheaper care already failed. You show that the imaging backs you up. And your treating doctor explains why the next step is needed. To beat a denied claim, you tie your injury to your Chatsworth job with dates, witnesses, and a doctor's clear opinion. On an aerospace or machine-shop claim, the company's injury logs and your clinic records often tip the balance. We pull them early, before the insurer's doctor frames the story.
When the fight is about a worn-down back, wrist, or shoulder, the insurer often blames age or an old, non-work condition. The law does not let them simply guess. Their doctor has to explain the how and why of any split in causation. In Escobedo v. Marshalls, a 2005 WCAB en banc decision, the board was clear. Blaming old wear takes real medical evidence, not a hunch. We hold their doctor to that standard.
What if the insurer denied or stalled from the start?
Sometimes the problem is not a judge or a review doctor. It is an insurer that sat on your claim. After you file, they have 90 days to accept or deny it. If they blow that deadline, the law presumes your injury is covered. During those 90 days, up to $10,000 in care is owed right away. Your treatment should not be frozen while they investigate. If your employer punishes you for filing, that is illegal, and it can add penalties to your case. These protections cover every Chatsworth worker, whatever your immigration status.
The full legal basis
The appeal routes above rest on these California Labor Code sections. Each link opens the official statute text.
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Tap to call →What is special about appeals at the Van Nuys WCAB?
It handles the entire San Fernando Valley, including Chatsworth. Eman Yazdchi appears there regularly and knows its judges, calendars, and local doctors.
Where is the Van Nuys WCAB, and who does it cover?
Chatsworth appeals are heard at the Van Nuys district office of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, at 6150 Van Nuys Boulevard. The office covers the San Fernando Valley, from Chatsworth and Canoga Park east to North Hollywood and Sylmar. Chatsworth sits in the far northwest corner of the Valley, so this is the home venue for local cases. It is near the Metro G Line, so reaching it from the West Valley is straightforward. Yazdchi Law appears there often on denied claims and reconsideration petitions.
Which Chatsworth jobs drive the denials we appeal?
Chatsworth is the West Valley's aerospace and post-production hub, and its work wears bodies down in specific ways:
- Aerospace and precision manufacturing: machinists, CNC operators, and bench assemblers in the De Soto and Canoga Avenue industrial parks. Their backs, shoulders, and wrists wear down over the years.
- Warehousing and logistics: order pickers, forklift drivers, and loaders near the Chatsworth Metrolink and Amtrak yards. Lifting injuries here are common, and often disputed.
- Post-production and media: editors, grips, and crew. Their repetitive-strain, back, and stress claims often get challenged as not work-related.
- Delivery and trucking: drivers on the 118 Ronald Reagan Freeway, whose spine problems the insurer blames on age, not the cab.
- Medical-device and electronics: bench assemblers with repetitive hand and neck injuries that insurers call pre-existing.
Why Chatsworth cumulative-trauma claims get denied
Many Chatsworth injuries build up slowly, over years of the same motion. Insurers love to deny these. They argue the damage is just age or old wear, not the job. That fight runs through a neutral panel doctor, and the doctor you end up with matters a great deal. For a represented worker, the panel lists three names, and each side strikes one. That leaves a single doctor, so the strike is a key decision. We know the Van Nuys QME panel doctors and choose with care. The state's QME directory is here.
Denied a treatment at a Chatsworth clinic?
Say utilization review shot down the MRI, surgery, or therapy your doctor ordered. That appeal runs through the state's Independent Medical Review, not the local courtroom. The deadline is tight and the result is binding, so the record has to be built right the first time. The state explains the IMR process here. We handle both tracks, the medical review and the WCAB appeal.
What does a Chatsworth appeal lawyer cost?
Nothing up front, and nothing unless we recover for you. A WCAB judge sets the fee, usually 12 to 15 percent of what we win.
We never bill you by the hour, and there is no charge to begin your appeal. In California workers' comp, a judge sets the attorney fee. It is usually 12 to 15 percent of the award or settlement, and only if your appeal succeeds. If we recover nothing, you owe no fee. That way an aerospace assembler and a warehouse loader get the same quality of representation.
About your attorney
Eman Yazdchi is a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law, California Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California (CA Bar #285231). This credential is held by a small fraction of California attorneys. He has represented hundreds of injured California workers, and he appears regularly at the Van Nuys WCAB. More about Eman Yazdchi. Check his State Bar record.
Nearby San Fernando Valley cities we serve
Workers' Comp Appeal Questions in Chatsworth, CA
Was my claim denied for good, or can I still fight it?
You can almost always fight a denial. A denial letter is not a final verdict. It is the start of an appeal. Depending on what was denied, your path is Independent Medical Review or a Petition for Reconsideration. Both have short deadlines, often 20 to 30 days, so call us quickly at (661) 273-1780.
The insurer's review denied my treatment. How do I appeal?
A denied treatment does not go back to the insurer or straight to a judge. It goes to Independent Medical Review, and you have 30 days from the denial to file. An outside doctor checks the decision against the state guidelines. A strong appeal shows that simpler care already failed. It shows that your imaging supports you. And it shows your treating doctor's reasons for the care.
Is an IMR decision really final? Can I challenge it?
Mostly, yes, it is final. By law the IMR result is binding on everyone. You can challenge it only on narrow grounds, such as fraud, a conflict of interest, or clear bias, and only within 30 days. That is why the first appeal has to be done right. We build the medical record before the deadline, so the reviewer has every reason to overturn the denial.
A judge ruled against me at the Van Nuys WCAB. What now?
You can file a Petition for Reconsideration. It asks the appeals board to review the judge's decision. The deadline is short: 25 days if the decision was mailed to you, 20 days if it was served electronically. If the board still says no, you can ask the Court of Appeal to review it within 45 days. We handle both steps.
How long does a workers' comp claim or appeal take to settle?
It varies. A straightforward case may settle in several months. An appeal that needs a panel doctor and a hearing can take a year or more. Most cases settle once the medical evidence is strong, because the insurer can see where it is headed. We push to build that record quickly, so your case does not drift.
Should I take a Stipulated Award or a Compromise and Release?
They are two ways to settle. A Stipulated Award pays your disability in weekly checks and keeps your future medical care open. A Compromise and Release pays one lump sum and usually closes out future medical care. Which one fits depends on your health and your needs. We walk you through the trade-offs before you sign anything.
How much of my settlement do I actually keep after the attorney fee?
Most of it. In California workers' comp, a judge sets the attorney fee, usually 12 to 15 percent of your award or settlement. So on a typical recovery you keep roughly 85 to 88 percent. You pay nothing up front, and the fee comes out only if your appeal succeeds. There are no hourly bills along the way.
My case closed, but my injury got worse. Can I reopen it?
Possibly. California lets you petition to reopen a closed case for new or worse disability, within five years of the date of injury. If your Chatsworth back or shoulder has gotten worse since you settled, you may be owed more. The five-year clock is strict, so do not wait. Call us to check your date at (661) 273-1780.
Last reviewed by Eman Yazdchi, Esq., June 2026.
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Read more testimonials →“Very thankful for everything they did for us. Always responsive, reassured us every step of the way and obtained a great result.”