Abril v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd

In Abril v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1976) 55 Cal.App.3d 480, the court was presented with the application of the Guidelines to an eye injury. There the injured's factors of permanent disability included loss of vision, watering of the eye and also a physician-recommended restriction from "vigorous activity, heavy lifting and activity involving jarring and sudden motion" in order "to avoid the risk of further retinal detachment." Under the Rating Schedule loss of vision is the usual basis for the rating of an eye injury. The rater recommended at total 37 percent rating based upon a 25 percent standard for loss of visual acuity, which adjusted to 32 percent for age and occupation, plus a 2 percent increment for watering of the eye, and only 3 percent for the work restriction. The rater refused to apply the Guidelines' standard ratings for the work restriction on the asserted grounds of "judgmental ceiling" on eye disability. While the court in Abril rejected the outright application of the Guidelines' standard ratings, it also rejected the rater's (and the Board's) ceiling on ratings for eye injuries. In this regard the court stated at pages 485-486: "As is not unusual, we find the appropriate result to lie approximately equidistant between the positions of these contending parties. Contrary to the contention of the applicant, simple addition of the 25 percent value from category (d) of the guidelines would not be appropriate for several reasons. By their terms those guidelines are limited to 'pulmonary, heart disease, abdominal weakness, spinal and lower extremity disabilities."