Judge Curtis A. Kin, Case Number: 24STCP02164, Date: 2024-10-31 Tentative Ruling

Judge: Curtis A. Kin, Case: 24STCP02164, Date: 2024-10-31 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCP02164 Hearing Date: October 31, 2024 Dept: 86

DEMURRER TO PETITION

Date: 10/31/24 (1:30 PM)

Case: Bryant Farnham v. State of California, Department of Industrial Relations (24STCP02164)

TENTATIVE RULING:

Real Party in Interest City of Riverside’s UNOPPOSED Demurrer to Petition for Writ of Administrative Mandamus is SUSTAINED.

Petitioner is challenging the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board’s denial of a “request for a status conference that included: discovery, as a principal issue, on a declaration of readiness to proceed, as evidence by order deferring action of petition for dismissal of claim.” (Pet. at 5:12-20; see also Pet. at 18:9-17.)

Labor Code § 5955 unambiguously states: “No court of this state, except the Supreme Court and the courts of appeal to the extent herein specified, has jurisdiction to review, reverse, correct, or annul any order, rule, decision, or award of the appeals board, or to suspend or delay the operation or execution thereof, or to restrain, enjoin, or interfere with the appeals board in the performance of its duties but a writ of mandate shall lie from the Supreme Court or a court of appeal in all proper cases.” (See also Lab. Code § 5950 [allowing person affected by order of appeals board to apply to Supreme Court or court of appeal for the appellate district in which the person resides].) Put simply, Labor Code § 5955 grants only the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeal with the jurisdiction to review orders and decisions of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. Accordingly, this Court—the Superior Court of California—does not have jurisdiction over the matters set forth in the operative petition.

The demurrer is SUSTAINED. The jurisdictional defect set forth above does not appear capable of being remedied by amendment. However, before denying leave to amend, the Court will hear from petitioner as to how the identified defects in the petition might reasonably be cured.