Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

I assume the cancer was not work related. When she died, that would stop her entitlement to any Workers' Compensation benefits. She obviously would not be entitled to any further medical treatment and permanent disability is meant to compensate a person for the reduced inability to compete in the labor market, which is irrelevant once one dies.

You do not say what paperwork it was that the attorney submitted. If it was the settlement papers, in the distant pass when I handled WC cases the judge would have easily signed off within three weeks, but the attorney being out of town would also make no difference as to the signing by the Judge as no appearance would normally be needed by the attorney. So one the facts presented, there was no malpractice by the attorney.

If your mother, however, sought to settle the WC case knowing that she was going to die soon and that the WC carrier was unaware of her serious condition [they would not settle if they knew she had a fatal illness], she was attempting to defraud them [if you bought life insurance and did not tell the insurance company that you had been told with only 5 months to live, do you think they would sell you a policy?] so any failure by the attorney is not malpractice because it would be a felony to do anything to settle the case for more than her life expectancy.