Comp litigation ends in a courtroom that isn’t quite a courtroom: a WCAB district office, a workers’ comp judge, no jury, and medicine that testifies on paper. Here is the hearing ladder, bottom to top.
The MSC — and the discovery trap
The mandatory settlement conference is where most litigated claims actually end. The judge presses both sides toward a number; failing that, the parties file the pretrial conference statement — issues, exhibits, witnesses — and discovery closes (§5502). Everything the trial will run on must exist by then: the QME report, the supplementals, the deposition. The number on the table gets tested against the rating math in the hallway — which is exactly when a checkable string matters.
The fast tracks
Two §5502 shortcuts exist for people who can’t wait: the expedited hearing (accepted claim, but treatment, TD, or MPN disputes) and the priority conference (represented worker, claim denied on injury grounds). Both jump the ordinary calendar because checks or care are being withheld in the meantime.
Trial, decision, and the 20-day clock
A comp trial is compact: your testimony, perhaps a witness or two, the medical record submitted on paper, argument. The judge issues Findings & Award in writing afterward. The losing side’s remedy is a Petition for Reconsideration — a short, jurisdictional window of 20 days from service (service-method extensions apply) that forgives nothing. And separately from all of this, every settlement — C&R or Stips — passes through the board for adequacy approval, often as a same-day “walk-through.”
Estimates for informational use; not legal advice.
Rate your spine right here
Same engine as the tables above — pick your occupation and age, slide the WPI from the report, and carry it into the full calculator when you’re ready.