Happy Wednesday, dear readers!

This week is moving just right along, isn’t it?  What better way to keep the momentum going than to talk about liens?

I know, I know, liens aren’t the most exciting topic in workers’ compensation.  Liens are the oatmeal-raisin cookie that you thought was chocolate chip – juts when you closed that file with dry ink on the Order Approving C&R, a whole bunch of liens come out of the wood work and your victory turns to ash (and you chocolate chip cookie turns out to be oatmeal raisin).

Well, here is something to soften the blow – recently the Court of Appeal denied lien claimant’s petition for a writ of review of the WCAB’s ruling in defendant’s favor.

The case is that of Paz v. Tech Flex.  The basic facts are simple enough – the lien claimant provided a series of services, the first of which was before July 1, 2013 and the last of which was after July 1, 2013.  So, which statute of limitations applies – three years or eighteen months?

Well, the panel cases all seem to say the same thing so far: if the last date of service was after July 1, 2013, then, pursuant to Labor Code section 4903.5(a), the 18-month rule applies.  This seems to be the holding in Escamilla v. Pelican Products, Inc., and the Paz panel came to the same conclusion.

The commissioners reasoned that because the new statute of limitation became effective January 1, 2013, so lien claimants had ample time to file their liens within the 18-month statute of limitations.

So what’s the take-away?  If the last date of service was provided before July 1, 2013, the lien claim is already barred – July 1, 2016 would have been the last day to file a lien.

By contrast, when the last date of service was provided after July 1, 2016, the eighteen month statute of limitations applies.

Unfortunately, your humble blogger still hasn’t seen any progress with arguing that any bills for dates of service provided more than 18 months prior to the filing of the lien are barred, but hope springs eternal.

Or rather, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.