Truck Insurance Exchange v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

In Truck Insurance Exchange v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, 2 Cal. App. 5th 394 (2016), the Court of Appeal affirmed the order excluding laches as an affirmative defense – finding Truck Insurance Exchange of Farmers Insurance Group ("Farmers") was deemed to know about a workplace injury when the employer had knowledge of the injury, despite that nearly seven years elapsed before a claim was filed – and remanded to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.

The parties did not dispute that Kwok, the injured worker, was employed as a manager and waiter by the restaurant owned by Mr. Cheung, Kwok's brother in law. In 2005, Kwok went to inspect a leak into the dining room, and was found a few minutes later lying unconscious on the ground with a ladder next to him. Kwok was severely injured, sustaining a brain hemorrhage as well as paralysis from the shoulders down, and receives 24 hour medical care.