2011-EB-4 (2011). IN RE: DANIEL ESCAMILLA Respondent.

• Court: California

California Workers Compensation Decisions 2011. En banc decisions 2011-EB-4 (2011). IN RE: DANIEL ESCAMILLA Respondent WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD STATE OF CALIFORNIAIN RE: DANIEL ESCAMILLA, Respondent.Misc. No. 254 NOTICE OF HEARING REGARDING SUSPENSION OR REMOVAL OF PRIVILEGE OF DANIEL ESCAMILLA TO APPEAR IN ANY PROCEEDING AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF ANY PARTY BEFORE THE APPEALS BOARD OR ANY WORKERS' COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE (EN BANC)NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Appeals Board may suspend or remove Daniel (Dan) Escamilla's privilege to appear in any proceeding as a representative of any party before the Appeals Board or any workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) pursuant to Labor Code section 4907 for the reasons set forth herein unless good cause is shown why the privilege should not be suspended or removed. A hearing on this issue is scheduled to commence at 8:30 a.m. on October 28, 2011 before the Honorable David Hettick at Hearing Room 2, Second Floor, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California. Judge Hettick will act as hearing officer for the Appeals Board to receive evidence and arguments regarding this matter, and he will prepare and submit the hearing record to the Appeals Board for its consideration and decision. (Lab. Code, § 5309(b).) FACTS SUPPORTING SUSPENSION OR REMOVAL OF PRIVILEGE While acting as a hearing representative before the Appeals Board and WCJs, Mr. Escamilla has been repeatedly sanctioned for engaging in bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay. The reasons for those sanctions included Mr. Escamilla's willful failures to comply with statutory and regulatory obligations, disruption and delay of proceedings for an improper motive, and presenting arguments that were indisputably without merit, as shown by the orders, notices of intention, opinions and correspondence which are jointly incorporated by reference herein and identified in the accompanying list of certified documents as Board Exhibit A as follows: 1) In Case No. MON 206997 (Harris), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $750.00 plus costs and fees on August 19, 2003 pursuant to Labor Code section 5813(fn1) for willfully executing, verifying and filing a successive untimely petition for reconsideration that was frivolous and without merit because the successive petition asserted the same issues and arguments that were raised in the earlier petition for reconsideration that was dismissed by the Appeals Board as untimely; 2) In Case No. AHM 92791 (Rios), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $500.00 on May 19, 2006 pursuant to Labor Code section 5813 for willfully executing, verifying and filing a frivolous petition for reconsideration that was totally without merit because his client, lien claimant Ali Mostafavi, D.C., was not aggrieved by the challenged compromise and release agreement approved by the WCJ; 3) In Case No. VNO 0330565 (Fagan), Mr. Escamilla was ordered on May 7, 2007 to pay defendant's reasonable costs and fees pursuant to Labor Code section 5813 for willfully executing and filing a frivolous petition for removal that mischaracterized earlier decisions of the Appeals Board and the Court of Appeal; 4) In Case No. LAO 0800614 (Cling), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $500.00 on June 14, 2007 pursuant to Labor Code section 5813 for willfully executing, verifying and filing a frivolous petition for reconsideration that was totally without merit because his client, lien claimant David Silver, M.D., was not aggrieved by the challenged compromise and release agreement approved by the WCJ; 5) In Case No. MON 0280037 (Crumpton), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $2,500.00 on August 1, 2007 pursuant to Labor Code section 5813 for willfully executing, verifying and filing a frivolous petition for reconsideration that was without merit and for continuing to litigate a lien claim of David Silver M.D., that was earlier settled (Escamilla v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Crumpton) (2008) 73 Cal.Comp.Cases 280 (writ den.)); 6) In Case No. LAO 0829698 (Rozenblat), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $500.00 and ordered to pay defendant $800.50 costs and fees on May 1, 2009 pursuant to Labor Code section 5813 for willfully executing, verifying and filing an untimely petition for reconsideration that he knew or should have known was frivolous because the Appeals Board did not have jurisdiction to consider the petition and it would not have time to grant reconsideration on its own motion; 7) In Case No. RIV 057393 (Roberts), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $900.00 on August 5, 2009 by the WCJ for several failures to appear without good cause and for willfully executing, verifying and filing a petition for removal that mischaracterized the facts; 8) In Case No. ADJ1194116/LAO 0797672 (Ortiz), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $750.00 by the Appeals Board on July 14, 2010, for filing a verified petition for reconsideration on July 27, 2009 that contains materially false statements of fact; 9) In Case No. ADJ1130558 (Lee), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $3,150.00 by the WCJ on June 23, 2010 and ordered to pay $2,464.50 in costs and fees as affirmed by the Appeals Board on January 6, 2011, for tardiness and engaging in frivolous and bad faith actions (Escamilla v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (Lee) (2011) 76 Cal.Comp.Cases 567 (writ den.)); 10) In Case No. ADJ3897299 (Santangelo), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $1,000.00 and ordered to pay $44,169.81 in costs and fees by the WCJ, as amended and affirmed by the Appeals Board on April 14, 2011, for engaging in bad faith and frivolous actions and tactics; 11) In Case Nos. ADJ4517161/ADJ3871851 (Chavez), Mr. Escamilla was sanctioned $2,500.00 by the Appeals Board on June 13, 2011 for filing a petition for reconsideration that contains material misrepresentations of fact and frivolous legal arguments. It has become apparent that sanctions are ineffective in causing Mr. Escamilla to conform his conduct to the Appeals Board's Rules of Practice and Procedure (Appeals Board's Rules). On February 9, 2009, a...