Opinion

Public Employees' Retirement System v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

  • 87 Cal. App. 3d 215
  • 151 Cal. Rptr. 35
  • 43 Cal. Comp. Cases 1291
  • 1978 Cal. App. LEXIS 2175
Court
California Court of Appeal
Filed
Dec 11, 1978
Status
Published
Author
Paras
On the bench
Carr, Paras
Cited by
4 cases

The opinion

PARAS, J., Dissenting.

While the result of the majority is a fair one, it should have been left to the Legislature to reach or reject as it saw fit. In my view the existing legislative expression does not permit the allowance of costs.

The Legislature has authorized the Board to determine the industrial (vel non) nature of a PERS member’s death “using the same procedure as in workers compensation hearings.” (Gov. Code, § 21363.) The majority has interpreted “procedure” to include the right to an award of costs. I cannot agree.

Procedure is defined as “[t]he mode of proceeding by which a legal right is enforced, as distinguished from the law which gives or defines the right. . . the machinery, as distinguished from its product.” (Black’s Law Diet. (Rev. 4th ed. 1968) pp. 1367-1368.) Costs are money, a matter of substance and not procedure.

*224 Moreover the statute refers to the same procedure as in workers’ compensation hearings, not workers’ compensation cases, thus confirming further the Legislature’s restrictive meaning. Money (costs) cannot possibly be a “procedure ... in workers’ compensation hearings.”

Therefore I dissent.

Petitioner’s application for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied February 9, 1979. Bird, C. J., did not participate therein.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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