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 (a represented worker — or one whose employer was illegally uninsured — with the claim denied on employment or 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” — and each district office keeps its own walk-through window, which is worth checking before you drive over with a signed settlement.
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.