Raya, Geoffrey

Applicant Geoffrey Raya, a deputy sheriff employed by the County of Riverside from 1994 to 2008, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2008 and underwent surgery and radiation therapy. He filed a claim form in 2008, but after defendant's QME Dr. Padova opined the cancer was not industrially related and the claim was denied, applicant took no action until retaining counsel and filing an Application for Adjudication on August 20, 2019. After Dr. Padova revised his opinion at a November 13, 2019 deposition to find industrial causation and applicability of the Labor Code section 3212.1 cancer presumption, the WCJ found a compensable injury not barred by the statute of limitations. The WCAB affirmed, holding that the section 5412 date of injury did not occur until applicant received medical advice in 2019 that his cancer was industrial, because the original medical advice had negated industrial causation and the cancer was not amenable to lay attribution. Compensation was therefore not barred by section 5405.