liens and foundation (California)

[lacompfun]

SCENARIO:

1. Injury denied case . Post termination defense against a specific.

2. Applicant gets lots of treatment say $ 20,000.

QUESTION:

1. Foundation wise, does applicant have to show up at lien trial and testify injured and he got all the treatment or are the lien claimant medicals sufficient?

[LawAdvocate]

So, no the Applicant does not have to show up.

It may behoove the lien claimants however to have the Applicant show up, as proving AOE/COE on medicals alone and that it was reported prior to termination is a huge burden. If the medicals are substantial enough, they may suffice. I saw a lien once where the medicals were substantial. There were emails attached to the medicals that revealed the Applicant reported it to his manager. I confirmed the emails did exist and that answered a lot of questions.

So it is fact situation dependent, sometimes the Applicant is not a good advocate on their own defense and going with written evidence is the best way to proceed. At this point, the defense of course has the ability to call the Applicant as a witness but usually doesn't do so, unless they need the deposition transcript to be admitted.