Two months after finding no cumulative trauma injury, a second look has given applicant hope

In a recent case, a panel of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board of California considered a subsequent change in the qualified medical examiner’s opinion a good cause for reopening a claim for cumulative trauma injury.

In McCrea vs. Adelanto Elementary School District, permissibly self-insured member of CSRM JPA, administered by York Risk Services Group, a Sedgwick Company, a woman applied for workers’ compensation for cumulative trauma injury to her back, nervous system, and other body systems for the period from Jan. 9, 2009 to July 19, 2019.

In June 2020, the qualified medical examiner issued a report finding no cumulative trauma injury on the applicant’s part. The worker agreed to dismiss her claim based on this report. However, two months later, the medical examiner released a second report that attributed causation to the applicant’s claim for cumulative trauma for the first time.

In March 2021, counsel for the defendant employer requested from the medical examiner a report further discussing his causation analysis. Five days later, the medical examiner’s supplemental report doubled down on his second report’s finding that the worker sustained cumulative injury and explained that he had changed his opinion after reviewing new diagnostic tests.

In July 2021, the applicant filed a petition challenging the dismissal of her claim alleging cumulative trauma injury. The workers...

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