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| Archived Articles of Interest:
04/09/07 CAAA Cringes as WCAB Reverses 4-3 En Bancs 05/25/07 First Appellate Court Opinion Cements WCAB En Bancs 05/04/07 Justices Say SB 899 05/07/07 Attorney Slams Retiring Judge in Recon Petition |
| Attorney Slams Retiring Judge in Recon Petition:
05/07/07
An attorney representing defendants in a consolidated case involving 75 lien petitions has asked the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to reconsider a decision in favor of Elite Surgery Centers, accusing the trial judge of judicial misconduct and rushing to reach a decision before her retirement. In Cresencio Barrera, et. al. v. HNR Framing, et. al.; American Home Assurance Co., et. al., SDO 313688, San Diego Workers' Compensation Judge Susan England ordered the defendants to pay 67% of charges billed by Elite Surgery Centers for treatments given before state state's ambulatory surgery center fee schedule took effect in 2004. Attorney Aaron S. Turchin, representing the defendants, said in his petition for reconsideration that England demonstrated throughout the trial that she did not understand the evidence before her and failed to follow proper rules of procedure. England at one point asked an attorney sitting in the audience, Clifford Sweet, whether she should accept documents into evidence, the petition charges. The petition states that England failed to understand the evidence that she did admit. "... Because the WCJ made incorrect assumptions about the evidence, she completely misconstrued the data submitted which renders her opinion fatally flawed," Turchin argued. "The WCJ's mistake constitutes clear error and requires granting of this petition." The consolidated case involves $1.9 million in outstanding balances owed Elite for 175 procedures at three San Diego-area surgery centers. All of the procedures were done before the Legislature adopted an ambulatory surgery fee schedule, which took effect Jan. 1, 2004. England ruled that the defendants should pay Elite based on a formula derived from the average percentage of billed charges that the surgery center accepted as payment over a four-year period. Turchin charges that England did not understand evidence that showed Elite's billings were "consistently inconsistent." For example, the surgery center billed one defendant $3,820 for an epidural procedure requiring 15 minutes of surgery time and 15 minutes of recovery time on one occasion, but billed $7,775 for the same procedure on another occasion. The petition says England also mistakenly concluded that Elite's charges were less than charges accepted by hospitals for the same services, when actually they were far more than hospital charges. England had compared hospitals billed charges against Elite's billed charges instead of actual payments accepted for the same services, the petition says. Elite's attorney, Laurence Solov, could not be reached for comment on Friday. England, who has since retired, does not have a listed telephone number in San Diego and could not be reached for comment.
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