B-L Ranch, Inc. v. Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board

McCOY, J. pro tem.

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This is a proceeding to review and annul an order of the Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board dismissing the employer’s compensation insurance carrier as a party defendant to the proceedings on the applicant’s claim for death benefits and funeral expenses arising out of the industrial injury and death of applicant’s husband.

In June 1967 Franca Lucia Ray, the widow of Marian Ray, applied to the board for adjudication of her claim against B-L Ranch, Inc., and State Compensation Insurance Fund as the employer’s insurance carrier, arising out of the industrial accident and death of her husband, Marian Ray, on May 13, 1967, while employed as a ranch worker by B-L Ranch, Inc. By its answer State Compensation Insurance Fund, hereafter referred to as the Fund, denied that it was the compensation insurance carrier for B-L Ranch, Inc. on the date of the accident. After hearing the matter the referee ordered the Fund dismissed as a party defendant, and then made an award in favor of the applicant against B-L Ranch, Inc. as an uninsured employer.

The primary issue before the referee was whether the fund was the insurance carrier for the employer at the time of the accident. The contentions of the parties before the referee with reference to this issue are repeated in the petition of the employer for reconsideration and in the Fund’s answer thereto. The employer’s petition for reconsideration was based on the ground that the evidence does not justify the referee’s findings of fact and that the findings do not support his decision. In support of its petition the employer contended in substance that the Fund was estopped to deny coverage

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and that it had waived the right to claim termination of the policy. In its answer the Fund contended its conduct before the injury, as shown by the record, did not create an estoppel, that its conduct after the injury did not constitute a waiver, and that the evidence sustains the findings of the referee. The petition for reconsideration was denied by the board.

We have concluded that the decision of the board denying the petition for reconsideration must be annulled because of the failure of the board to comply with the provisions of section 5908.5 of the Labor Code. That section provides that any decision of the board denying a petition for reconsideration “shall be in writing . . . and shall state the evidence relied upon and specify in detail the reasons for the decision.” Where the board fails to comply with this section, the court cannot fairly consider the substantive issues raised by the petition for review.