California Code of Regulations
Title 8 - Industrial Relations
Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations
Chapter 4.5 - Division of Workers' Compensation
Subchapter 2 - Workers' Compensation Appeals Board-Rules and Practice Procedure
Article 13 - Hearings
Section 10782 - Expedited Hearings

(a) Where injury to any part or parts of the body is accepted as compensable by the employer, a party is entitled to an expedited hearing and decision upon the filing of an Application for Adjudication of Claim and a Declaration of Readiness to Proceed pursuant to rule 10625 establishing a bona fide, good faith dispute pursuant to Labor Code section 5502(b).

(b) An expedited hearing may be set upon request where injury to any part or parts of the body is accepted as compensable by the employer and the issues include medical treatment or temporary disability for a disputed body part or parts.

(c) A workers' compensation judge assigned to a case may redesignate the expedited hearing as a mandatory settlement conference, receive a Pre-Trial Conference Statement pursuant to Labor Code section 5502, close discovery and schedule the case for trial on the issues presented, if the workers' compensation judge determines that the case is not appropriate for expedited determination.

(d) Grounds for the re-designation of an expedited hearing include, but are not limited to, cases where the direct and cross-examination of the applicant will be prolonged, or where there are multiple witnesses who will offer extensive testimony.

(e) The parties are expected to submit for decision all matters properly in issue at a single trial and to produce all necessary evidence, including witnesses, documents, medical reports, payroll statements and all other matters considered essential in the proof of a party's claim or defense.