Alfonso Moresi Appointed to W.C.A.B. Commissioner Post

Governor Schwartzenager has announced the appointment of Alfonso (Al) Joseph Moresi to fill the current commissioner opening on the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board created by the departure at the end of his term by Merle Rabine.

Al is a Senior Partner at the Law office of Laughlin, Falbo, Levy and Moresi, the largest and certainly one of the most respected workers' compensation defense firms in California.  His background is detailed in the governor's press release (Press Release).

While Al has been a defense attorney for his entire 34 year career in Workers' Comp, as someone who has known him for most of those 34 years, first as an opponent for 18 years, as an associate for 7 and as a friendly competitor for the past 6; he has always championed fairness in this system especially for injured workers..  His family has a background in organized labor and he has always been a believer in giving injured workers the full benefit of the system.  I believe we can anticipate that Al will bring a solid legal yet pragmatic approach to addressing the many pending issues in workers' comp and do so in a manner that continues the balanced approach of many of the other recent appointments from the workers' comp community.

Al Moresi's appointment continues this Governor's excellent track record of appointing knowledgeable balanced practitioners to the W.C.A.B.  Since he will have several more appointments this coming year, hopefully the trend will continue.  Certainly with this appointment the Governor is demonstrating a interested in appointing to the W.C.A.B. outstanding practitioners who can bring their wealth of experience into play rather than simply filling the posts with political appointments who bring little understanding or knowledge to this significant and important post.

Congratulations to Al and good luck.  Kudos to the Governor for his excellent choice.

Richard M. Jacobsmeyer*