Valencia, Maria

Maria Valencia, a Press Operator/Assembler for TrafFix Devices, claimed both a specific February 18, 2022 injury and a cumulative trauma injury, including a stroke affecting her circulatory and nervous systems, head, and brain. The WCJ's August 1, 2025 Findings and Order found no industrial injury in the form of stroke, recast the claim from specific to cumulative, and deferred other body parts and defenses pending further development of the record. Both applicant and defendant sought reconsideration. The Board denied defendant's petition regarding further development (a non-final discovery order subject to the removal standard not met here), but otherwise granted both petitions to defer the stroke causation issue and the specific-versus-cumulative characterization. The Board reasoned that piecemeal findings should be avoided so all body parts and legal defenses can be resolved in a single final decision with a single appeal period.