Sanctions.  Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions.  They make the news when they happen, and the defense community involuntarily pumps a fist in support when the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board imposes sanctions against lien claimants or applicants’ attorneys who play fast and loose with the truth.

Not too long ago, the WCAB imposed sanctions against a Valencia applicants’ lawyer for some less-than-honest statements pertaining to the timeliness of his filed petition.  In keeping with WCDefenseCA’s policy of not naming names, your humble blogger will decline to broadcast the perpetrator’s identity.  But if you e-mail me (Gregory@grinberglawoffice.com), I will send you the panel opinion.

Applicant’s attorney filed a petition for reconsideration on June 28, 2011 even though the underlying Joint Findings and Award was issued January 25, 2011.  To deal with the issue of timeliness (for a discussion of reconsideration and removal, please click here) applicant’s attorney alleged that he never received the F&A when it was served.  But this means that he had 20 days from the date of receipt to file a petition for reconsideration – and the question arose as to when he actually received the F&A.

In answering applicant’s petition for reconsideration of June 28, defense counsel raised the argument that the petition was not timely.  Furthermore, evidence was offered that applicant had the F&A in his hands at an Mandatory Settlement Conference on May 2, 2011.  Your humble blogger may be mathematically impaired, but with the use of his fingers and toes he discovered that June 28 is more than twenty days after May 2^nd.

Well, the WCAB ordered an investigation on the trial level into this issue and the question of ex parte communication with a judge and making misleading statements to a judge.  The defense attorney appeared at the hearing to testify, but applicant’s attorney did not.  He later alleged that he calendared the hearing incorrectly (labeling the hearing as 1:00 instead of 8:30) and that the whole thing is moot anyways because “the Fifth amended [sic]” protects him from testifying against himself.

The WCAB was not impressed.

Sanctions of $1,000 were imposed on the applicant’s attorney for the misleading claims regarding when the attorney actually had the F&A.  Because no evidence was offered with respect to the issues of ex parte communication and false statements to a workers’ compensation Judge, sanctions were not imposed for those as well (the applicant’s attorney escaped an additional $2,000 in sanctions).  With respect to the claim of the “Fifth amended,” the WCAB noted that there were no criminal charges pending, so the defense did not apply.

Your curious blogger can’t help but wonder – has this attorney ever claimed to “not have received” some crucial document in the past?  This time he was caught red-handed because a competent defense attorney was able to catch him; perhaps there have been cases where no one remembered or was willing to testify?

So, what lessons can we learn from this story?  Well, for starters, keep a keen eye on your calendar and make sure you don’t miss the chance to testify in your own defense.  Keep an eye on the dates involved – the defense attorney in this case was able to keep the rules and deadlines from being bent out of shape through diligence and a properly drafted answer.