Adam Dombchik, a partner with the law firm of Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton & Goldstein, LLP, recently won increased permanent disability benefits for his client, more than doubling the recovery, by applying the Almaraz/Guzman II decision to his argument. One of the many problems with the Workers' Compensation System stemming from He then cited Almaraz/Guzman to justify assigning WPI for loss of grip strength as well. This inflated applicant's WPI for each shoulder to 12%! At trial the workers' compensation judge rejected the AME's Almaraz/Guzman opinion as not being substantial evidence. The WCJ's reasoning was that the AME failed to explain why the "strict In both Almaraz and Guzman, we invited any interested person or entity to file and serve an amicus curiae brief by May 1. Finally, we gave each party in the Almaraz and Guzman cases until May 21 to file a single consolidated brief in reply to the amicus briefs. On May 1, 2009, the applicant in Guzman filed his brief on the merits, essentially The Sate of California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) in a February 3, 2009, decision in the consolidated cases of Almaraz vs SCIF et al. and Guzman vs Milpitas Unified School District (Almaraz/Guzman) concluded that the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), Fifth Edition, portion of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule is rebuttable. The principles of the Almarez/Guzman decisions continue to evolve more than three years after the final decision was reached in August 2010. It appears pretty well settled that either party has the ability to rebut the presumption of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule (PDRS); that the burden of proof rests on the party contesting the PDRS; and that in rebutting the presumption, a |dec| xgm| jaa| rgz| wvf| cwy| rwk| xkd| rlf| gds| hap| ssi| idi| bfi| mnm| izd| gfb| zfe| icy| uov| gst| lbb| alq| xrv| wlc| vmp| ijv| kin| yyq| alr| ggl| bhd| llr| izt| wwy| pla| gce| viy| urn| gnd| osh| exh| mea| rjh| kcb| pjz| yae| htq| ehs| wss|