Karina Gonzalez — ADJ22325507

Applicant Karina Gonzalez, a Los Angeles police officer, sustained a cumulative trauma injury to her lumbar spine subject to the duty-belt presumption under Labor Code section 3213.2. The arbitrator found 35% permanent disability and applied apportionment under section 4664(b) by subtracting a prior 22% award for the same body part, yielding a final 13% PD. Applicant petitioned for reconsideration, arguing that the anti-attribution clause of section 4663(e) precludes apportionment under section 4664 in presumptive injury cases. The WCAB adopted the arbitrator's Report, relying on the panel decision Shadoan v. City of San Diego, and held that section 4663(e) bars only apportionment based on causation of disability, not apportionment to a prior overlapping award under section 4664(b). The Board denied reconsideration, finding both disabilities were rated 100% industrial using the same range-of-motion method, establishing factual overlap warranting subtraction of the prior award.