“I am glad and so very pleased...she made happen what no other attorney could do. So far she has proven her weight in gold.”
Jamal Sharples
Palmdale
✦ Board-Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law — State Bar of California ✦
Bad ruling? We take your case to the next level — Reconsideration, Writ of Review, and beyond.
By Eman Yazdchi, Esq. · Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law
A workers' comp judge at the Van Nuys WCAB issued a decision on your Littlerock case, and the result was wrong. Maybe the judge undervalued your permanent disability rating for a back injury sustained on a peach orchard along Pearblossom Highway. Maybe the ruling denied your heat illness claim from a solar installation site east of Littlerock Dam based on flawed medical evidence. Maybe the decision improperly apportioned your agricultural cumulative trauma injury to pre-existing conditions. Whatever the error, California law gives you the right to challenge it — but the deadlines are strict and the process is technical.
The primary appeal mechanism in workers' comp is the Petition for Reconsideration under LC §5900. You have exactly 20 days from the date of service of the judge's decision to file this petition with the WCAB Appeals Board. Miss that deadline by even one day, and your right to appeal is gone. The petition must identify specific legal or factual errors — vague disagreement with the outcome is not enough. This is not a process for general practitioners. It requires a specialist who understands WCAB procedures, evidence rules, and the substantive law governing permanent disability ratings, medical evidence, and apportionment.
Attorney Eman Yazdchi is board-certified in workers' compensation law and has filed Petitions for Reconsideration on behalf of Littlerock agricultural workers, solar installers, and construction laborers. From our Palmdale office — 15 miles west of Littlerock on Pearblossom Highway — we handle appeals at the Van Nuys WCAB and, when necessary, at the California Court of Appeal through writs of review under LC §5950. We also speak Spanish and Farsi to serve Littlerock's diverse workforce.
A Petition for Reconsideration is not a second chance to re-argue your case. Under LC §5903, it must be based on one or more specific grounds that demonstrate the judge's decision was legally or factually deficient. Here are the grounds most relevant to Littlerock workers:
If the judge relied on a medical report that does not constitute substantial medical evidence — for example, an insurer's doctor who never examined you, failed to review your full work history, or ignored the specific demands of Littlerock agricultural labor — the decision can be overturned. We see this frequently in cumulative trauma claims where the insurer's QME dismisses decades of orchard work as irrelevant to a spinal condition.
Legal errors include misapplying the permanent disability rating formula, incorrectly calculating apportionment under LC §4663, misinterpreting the AMA Guides, or failing to apply the correct burden of proof. For Littlerock solar workers whose heat illness claims were denied, a judge who placed the burden on the worker to disprove a pre-existing condition — rather than requiring the insurer to prove non-industrial causation — committed a reversible legal error.
If new medical evidence emerges after trial — a subsequent MRI showing progressive disc herniation, a new diagnosis that changes the impairment rating, or a treating physician's updated opinion — you can present this evidence through the Petition for Reconsideration. The evidence must be truly new and not simply information that was available but not presented at trial.
Agricultural workers from Littlerock's orchards and farms face unique appeal issues. Judges sometimes accept improper apportionment that attributes too much of a farmworker's disability to aging rather than occupational stress. Medical evaluators may fail to account for the specific biomechanical demands of orchard work — the constant bending, the overhead reaching, the carrying of loaded crates across uneven terrain. When the trial-level decision undervalues a Littlerock farmworker's claim because of these errors, the Petition for Reconsideration is the mechanism to correct it.
Injured at work in Littlerock? Call (661) 273-1780
Tap to call →Littlerock workers' comp cases are tried at the Van Nuys WCAB district office. Petitions for Reconsideration are filed with the WCAB Appeals Board in San Francisco but originate from the Van Nuys trial record. Our firm prepares complete trial records specifically to preserve appeal rights for Littlerock workers.
Appeals require a deep understanding of workers' comp law, WCAB procedures, and appellate writing. Attorney Eman Yazdchi's board certification from the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization reflects the advanced knowledge needed to identify appealable errors, craft persuasive legal arguments, and navigate the strict procedural requirements.
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