Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

Admissibility of evidence depends where the 'discovery' process is... if the matter has not gone to trial, you can give the evidence to everyone (the doctors, the judge, etc). If the WCAB Judge wrote "Discovery CLOSED" at the Mandatory Settlement Conference, then the evidence is mostly inadmissible...unless you can clearly show the judge there was absolutely no way to get this evidence prior to discovery being 'closed'. At trial, you can use some evidence to 'impeach' something a witness said, so some evidence not listed on the evidence roster comes in to challenge witness testimony. If the judge has issued a Findings & Award, you would have to petition for a new trial and prove to the judge the evidence you have could not possibly have been obtained before trial...and even then, the judge has the power to decide it is just too late to re-do a Findings & Award. If the parties signed a Compromise & RElease Agreement closing all outstanding issues for cash, you can't un-do that (unless you are able to prove the employee procured the settlement by fraud, fraud that could not possibly have been discovered until after the settlement was paid out).