Bates, Eric

Eric Bates, a former professional baseball player, claimed a cumulative trauma injury to numerous body parts during his employment with the Cincinnati Reds (permissibly self-insured) from June 1, 1989 to March 31, 1991. The WCJ found an employment relationship, California subject matter jurisdiction, injury AOE/COE, and rejected statute of limitations and section 3208.3(d) psychiatric defenses, while deferring disability determinations. Defendant sought reconsideration challenging employment, jurisdiction, statute of limitations, earnings, and the psychiatric bar. The WCAB granted reconsideration, affirming the employment finding based on applicant's credible, unrebutted testimony of contract signing in California with Reds scouts, but corrected several errors: fixing the section 5412 date of injury at July 31, 2019 (a single date rather than a period), correcting the average weekly wage from $950.00 to $209.69, and recalculating the section 5500.5 liability period to March 31, 1990 to March 31, 1991. The Board rescinded the F&O and substituted new findings, rescinding apportionment findings pending development of the record on permanent disability.