Skip to main content
< Back
Print

Mayor v. Ross Valley Sanitary District (52 CWCR 25) (Supreme Court Review Granted)

A Board panel has reaffirmed a prior decision, concluding that it’s August 14, 2023 granting of reconsideration had been timely.

The panel conceded that the case of Zurich American Insurance Co. v. WCAB (2023) 89 CCC 1, had concluded that the plain language of Labor Code §5909 shows a clear legislative intent to terminate the Appeals Board jurisdiction to consider a petition for reconsideration after 60 days unless specified equitable circumstances are present.

Zurich differed from the case of Shipley v. WCAB (1992) 57 CCC 493, which is long held that a party that files a petition for reconsideration has a due process right to Board review even if that review must occur beyond the jurisdictional 60-day, because of untimely cognizance of a petition by the Board.

The WCAB determined that it had acted timely in the present matter and reasoned that Shipley supported action on the petition for reconsideration because the appeal delay had been outside petitioner’s control.

The panel rejected the idea that the filing a petition for reconsideration through the electronic filing system provided sufficient notice, saying that the individual district office must transmit the record to the Board for review.

The panel also rejected the principle that a petitioner’s actions, other than a timely filing for reconsideration, are legally relevant to protect the due process rights of the aggravated party.

The commissioners considered that the Zurich decision reflected a split of authority on questions of equity in a case in which the positioner has failed to petition for writ of review before the expiration of 45 days to file a writ after the presumed denied reconsideration by operation of law and created a result from which there was no remedy.

Having disagreed with the Zurich reasoning and the presented evidence of the split of authority, the panel also questioned whether the Zurich decision, which was issued on December 18, 2023, applies to a prior reconsideration.