The California Workers’ Compensation Institute has announced it will conduct a one-day case law seminar in May in both Long Beach and San Francisco. The program will examine how recent trends in decisional law are reshaping California workers’ compensation, and discuss appropriate negotiation and defense strategies for claims personnel, attorneys, hearing reps, case managers, nurses, rehab professionals and others with negotiating authority.

CWCI General Counsel Mike McClain, who has served as moderator for the case law seminars since their inception, notes that this is the 11th consecutive year that the Institute has conducted the program. According to McClain, “These seminars focus on the practical impact of case law for those who work in the system. Our faculty includes attorneys with both applicant and defense experience, and we use an interactive, debate-style format to present alternate viewpoints on recent decisions and insights into what it all means for those trying to deliver benefits or defend claims.” Issues tied to SB 899 continue to percolate up through the courts, so the 2009 program will explore a wide range of reform-related topics and cases, including: Costa III and the just-released WCAB en banc decisions (Ogilvie & Almaraz/ Guzman) which open the door for PDRS rebuttals; the repeal of vocational rehabilitation; and topics related to apportionment (the Wilkinson Doctrine, burden of proof, proving a prior award, etc.).

The Institute will present the 2009 Case Law Seminar from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, May 4 at the Grand Long Beach Event Center, and Wednesday May 6 at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. Tuition is $395, with a $100 discount available to CWCI member company employees. The fee includes a syllabus with summaries of significant decisions and full citations, Continental breakfast and lunch. Continuing education units will be available for attorneys, as CWCI is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider (5 hours). CWCI also will provide certificates of attendance for Department of Insurance workers’ compensation claims administrator credits, and for submission to the Association of Hearing Reps of California. Preregistration and prepayment are required. For more details or to accommodate special needs, call Mel Long at 510-251-9470. For a downloadable registration form click here, or for immediate online registration, click here.