Mosqueda, Miguel

Miguel Mosqueda, a 60-year-old maintenance worker for the permissibly self-insured City of Clearlake, suffered catastrophic spinal injury resulting in paraplegia when he fell from a pole ladder during a tree-trimming job on October 10, 2013. The fall occurred when the groundsman, Nick Lambert, pulled on a downed branch that had become entangled with the ladder's foot, causing the ladder to twist and tip over. Applicant sought an increased award under Labor Code section 4553 for serious and willful misconduct, alleging numerous safety order violations, and under section 4553.1 for safety order violations. The WCJ found no serious and willful misconduct and that no safety order violation was a proximate cause of the injury, and the WCAB adopted and incorporated the WCJ's Report, denying reconsideration.