Nieves Romero (Dec) — ADJ10821128

Nieves 'Alex' Romero died in a motor vehicle accident on October 26, 2016, and his estate (through guardian ad litem Margaret King for his son) sought death benefits, alleging he was an employee of Paul Story, dba Kar Tunez, against whom UEBTF was named. The WCJ found that applicant had engaged in mutual projects with Story but found no evidence establishing employment or that the fatal accident occurred AOE/COE, ordering applicant take nothing. The WCAB denied reconsideration, concluding that applicant failed to establish that he was rendering service to Story at the time of his death and therefore failed to invoke the employment presumption. Text messages showed Story had retracted his request for applicant's assistance two days before the accident, and credible testimony (notably from Anthony Miranda) showed applicant was building a speaker box on his own account, not for Story. The Board accorded great weight to the WCJ's credibility determinations and concluded the injury did not arise in the course of employment.