Gregory Frampton — ADJ15351318, ADJ7106301, ADJ7106302

Applicant Gregory Frampton, a City of Los Angeles traffic officer, sustained an admitted cervical injury that led to a February 25, 2019 neck surgery resulting in quadriplegia. After the arbitrator found him 100% permanently and totally disabled without apportionment, a dispute arose over division of attorney fees between the prior attorney (Goldfarb & Zeidner, who retired) and the current attorney (Bentley & More). The arbitrator awarded $128,715 to the current attorney and $20,000 to the prior attorney, applying the Whitley factors and considering the prior attorney's breach of the duty of loyalty in steering the client toward a firm with a pre-arranged fee split. Both attorneys petitioned for reconsideration—the current attorney sought to eliminate the prior attorney's fee entirely while the prior attorney sought a larger share. The WCAB denied both petitions, adopting the arbitrator's report, and addressed the Labor Code section 5909 timing issue by invoking Shipley tolling.