On this page
Where your case is heard is set by law, and you have a say in it. Below: the three counties the law allows, the nine district offices and what to know before you go to each, which hearings still happen in the room, and the short run of dates that decides most cases — with what we do before each one.
Which office is yours
The application may be filed in any of three counties, and your written consent to the venue is filed with the application.
WHERE YOU LIVE
The county where you live on the date the application is filed.
WHERE IT HAPPENED
The county where the injury occurred — for a cumulative traumaCT — Cumulative trauma Injury from repeated exposure over time. The largest injury category in California and the least claimed. or an industrial disease, where the last injurious exposure occurred.
WHERE YOUR LAWYER IS
If you have a lawyer, the county of your attorney’s principal place of business. If that county is chosen, the employer may object within 30 days.
The DWCDWC Division of Workers’ Compensation, part of the Department of Industrial Relations. Administers the system. Information Services Center: 1-800-736-7401. maintains a ZIP code locator showing the office that serves each ZIP code, and the Information Services Center is 1-800-736-7401. Once a case is filed, venue changes only by petition for good cause.
Wherever your case is heard
The firm appears at district offices throughout Southern California. If your case is set at a particular office, ask on the call — the answer will be specific.
WE COME TO YOU
An attorney from this firm goes to your home, your hospital room, or your rehabilitation facility, across all four counties. Say so when you call.
IN YOUR LANGUAGE
English, Spanish, and Korean, with attorneys and staff fluent in each. At the hearing itself, a certified interpreter is yours at no cost.
A FIFTEEN-MINUTE FIRST CALL
Free, and you sign nothing until we recommend it. Tell us where your case is set and when, and we will tell you what to expect there.
NO FEE UNLESS WE RECOVER
A judge sets the fee, generally 9% to 15% of what is recovered, and you are not responsible for costs we advance if there is no recovery.
The offices
Nine Southern California district offices, and what we would tell you before you drive to each one. The address and the number, where to park and what it costs, how to get there without a car, and the one thing that catches people. Every fact is from the office’s own page in the guide. If your case is assigned somewhere not listed here, call and ask — we will tell you what to expect there.
LOS ANGELES AREA
— serves Central and South Los Angeles.
The largest workers’ compensation court in California, and the strictest security in the system.
- Address
- 320 W. 4th Street, 9th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90013 — the Junipero Serra State Office Building
- Phone
- (213) 576-7335
- Parking
- $5 to $14 a day in paid lots, about $13 beside the building. Budget for a full day.
- Transit
- Metro B and D Line to Pershing Square, one block away. For most people, easier and cheaper than driving.
- At the door
- Metal detectors and x-ray screening. Allow extra time on a conference-heavy morning.
- Watch for
- No food, gum, or drink other than bottled water on the 9th floor.
— serves the San Fernando Valley and the Antelope Valley.
The meters by the building stop at two hours, and a trial very often runs longer.
- Address
- 6150 Van Nuys Blvd, Suite 105, Van Nuys, CA 91401
- Phone
- (818) 901-5367
- Parking
- Calvert Street, just east of the building, allows up to 10 hours. The state structure is $9 a day, but limited.
- Transit
- Metro G Line. Its Van Nuys station is closed for construction until 2027; the temporary stop is at Van Nuys Blvd and Oxnard Street.
- At the door
- The lobby opens 30 minutes before the session begins, and filings are taken at the information desk.
— serves the Westside, the coast, and the LAX area.
Parking in the building is $15.50 a day, and there is no rail.
- Address
- 4720 Lincoln Blvd, 2nd Floor, Marina del Rey, CA 90292
- Phone
- (310) 482-3820
- Parking
- Marina lot #4 on Mindanao Way is $6 to $8 a day, a short walk. The retail-only area is enforced — do not park there.
- Transit
- Metro bus only. Plan the trip before the morning of the hearing.
- Watch for
- DIR’s own page names both the 2nd and the 3rd floor. Follow the building’s signs.
— serves Long Beach, the harbor, and the South Bay.
One of the easier offices to attend: free parking, and a café in the building next door.
- Address
- 1500 Hughes Way, Suite C203, Long Beach, CA 90810
- Phone
- (562) 590-5001
- Parking
- Free, through the front guard station.
- Transit
- Long Beach Transit serves the area.
- Watch for
- An Oceangate address for this office is still in circulation, and it is out of date. It is 1500 Hughes Way.
— serves the eastern San Gabriel Valley end of Los Angeles County.
Free parking, and nothing to eat within walking distance.
- Address
- 732 Corporate Center Drive, Pomona, CA 91768
- Phone
- (909) 623-4301
- Parking
- Free, but only in unmarked spaces or spaces marked “RESERVED FOR 732.” Other reserved spaces are subject to tow.
- Transit
- Foothill Transit serves the area.
- Watch for
- The nearest food is at Temple Avenue and Pomona Boulevard. Eat before you come, and bring water.
ORANGE COUNTY
— serves central and southern Orange County.
The most expensive parking of the Southern California offices, and rail does not really work here.
- Address
- 2 MacArthur Place, Suite 600, Santa Ana, CA 92707
- Phone
- (714) 558-4121
- Parking
- Up to $18 a day, with more lots at 3 MacArthur Place and the nearby DoubleTree.
- Transit
- OCTA buses. The Metrolink station is about four miles away and not walkable; Anaheim is the better-connected Orange County office.
- Watch for
- No food or drink in the waiting room or the hearing rooms. The café is across the courtyard, at 1 MacArthur Place.
— serves North Orange County.
The easiest office in the system to reach: free parking, and Metrolink behind the building.
- Address
- 1065 N. Link, Suite 170, Anaheim, CA 92806
- Phone
- (714) 414-1800
- Parking
- Free and ample, on both sides of the building. Not in reserved, Metrolink, or property management spaces.
- Transit
- Metrolink Inland Empire–Orange County Line, Anaheim Canyon station, behind the building’s west parking lot.
- At the door
- Check in at the front counter in Suite 170. Visitors may not wait in the main lobby.
- Watch for
- The street was PacifiCenter Drive until 2019. A map may still use the old name; the office did not move.
INLAND EMPIRE
— serves the valley and the high desert.
Photo ID at the door, for everyone who comes with you.
- Address
- 464 W. Fourth Street, Suite 239, San Bernardino, CA 92401 — the Rosa Parks Building
- Phone
- (909) 383-4341
- Parking
- $5 a day in the state structure north of the building, or free in a public lot a block away.
- Transit
- Omnitrans serves the area.
- At the door
- Every visitor signs in at the security desk and shows a picture ID.
- Watch for
- The first-floor café is take-out only, and only bottled water is allowed in the waiting room.
— serves Riverside County and the Coachella Valley.
If the floor is full, the people with you may wait in the food court.
- Address
- 3737 Main Street, Suite 300, Riverside, CA 92501
- Phone
- (951) 782-4269
- Parking
- Downtown meters and city lots, and the Market Street garage — its first 90 minutes are free, which will not cover a trial.
- Transit
- Metrolink Riverside Line, Riverside-Downtown station, about a mile away. Riverside Transit Agency serves the area.
- At the door
- Photo ID at the security desk, for everyone in your group.
- Watch for
- A relative who comes for support may spend the hearing in the ground-floor food court. If someone is coming to testify, tell your attorney in advance.
AT EVERY OFFICE
- Two sessions. Hearings run from 8:30 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. Your notice gives a session, not a time.
- Half a day, or the whole day. Plan on half a day for anything in person, and a full day for a trial.
- What to bring. Your notice of hearing, a government photo ID, and every letter from the claims administratorClaims administrator / adjuster The person handling your claim for the insurer or self-insured employer. and every medical report on the issue being heard.
- No childcare. Children should not be brought to court. If you cannot arrange care, tell your attorney before the hearing date.
- Accommodations. The DWC’s district office accommodation coordinator is at 1-866-681-1459. Ask at least five days before the hearing, and separately for each date.
Remote, or in the room
Since March 3, 2025, most conferences run on video. Trials and walk-throughs still happen in the room.
REMOTE BY VIDEO
- Status conferences
- Mandatory settlement conferences
- Priority conferences
- Rating MSCs
- LienLien A claim against your recovery. The law lists nine categories, (a) through (i), including EDD reimbursement, which surprises people most. conferences
IN PERSON
- Trials
- Lien trials
- Expedited hearings
- Walk-throughs
And the most consequential proceeding is not the trial. Discovery closes at the mandatory settlement conferenceMSC Mandatory Settlement Conference. Where most cases end — and where discovery closes. — evidence not disclosed there is generally inadmissible. Why.
Interpreters are free at hearings, depositions, medical-legal examinations, and treatment appointments. Your interpreter rights.
The dates that decide a case
Most cases end at the mandatory settlement conference, and the run of dates that leads to it is short. Once either side files a Declaration of Readiness to ProceedDOR Declaration of Readiness to Proceed. Forces the calendar. You have 10 calendar days to object, or objections to proceeding on its issues are waived., these are the days that follow.
- Day 0
- A Declaration of Readiness to Proceed is filed: either side says the case is ready.
- Within 10 days of service
- The time to object. A party who does not object is deemed to have waived any and all objections to proceeding on the issues in the declaration, absent extraordinary circumstances.
- Days 10 to 30
- The mandatory settlement conference. Discovery closes that day, and evidence not disclosed by then is generally inadmissible.
- Within 75 days
- The trial, if the case does not resolve. It is not decided from the bench.
A case review is worth the most before the settlement conference, and much less afterward. After that date, what the file is missing stays missing.
Before a hearing, what we do
Whatever is not on the exhibit list at the settlement conference does not come in at trial. So the work happens before it.
- We read the file before the settlement conference. A missing supplemental report, an un-deposed evaluator, an unclaimed body part, an unraised apportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. defect: each can be dealt with before that date, and becomes permanent at it.
- We list every witness and every exhibit. The joint Pretrial Conference StatementPretrial Conference Statement The joint document listing issues, stipulations, proposed ratings, witnesses, and every exhibit. What is not on it does not come in. sets out the issues, the stipulations, each side’s proposed permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. rating, every witness, and every exhibit, with the author, date, and title of each document.
- We prepare you to testify. If the facts are disputed, you will testify, briefly. Tell the truth, answer only what is asked, do not guess, do not minimize, and describe your limits accurately, including the good days.
- We watch the clocks after the decision. A Petition for ReconsiderationPetition for Reconsideration Appeal from a final order. 20 days. A non-final order takes a Petition for Removal instead. has 20 days, and only from a final order. A non-final order is challenged by Petition for Removal instead, and filing the wrong one wastes the deadline.
Your area
Before you travel
Every address and phone number in the guide was checked against the Division of Workers’ Compensation’s own office directory on August 19, 2026. Office addresses, parking rates, security procedures, and local calendaring practices change. Verify against the DWC directory before traveling.
The Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC is located in Los Angeles and appears at Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board district offices throughout Southern California.
(213) 380-9310Frequently asked questions
Do I have to go to court?
Conferences and settlement conferences are remote by video. Trials, expedited hearings, and walk-throughs are in person.
Will I have to testify?
If the facts are disputed, yes — briefly. Most of the evidence is documentary.
Is there a jury?
No. A workers’ compensation judgeWCJ Workers’ Compensation Judge. Decides your case. There is no jury. decides.
Can my case be moved to a different office?
The application may be filed in any of three counties, with your written consent to the venue. Once a case is filed, venue changes only by petition for good cause.
I need an accommodation, or I have no childcare. What do I do?
Ask the DWC’s district office accommodation coordinator at 1-866-681-1459, at least five days before the hearing and separately for each date. If you cannot arrange childcare, tell your attorney before the hearing date.
How long until I get a decision?
It is not decided from the bench. The judge takes the case under submission and issues written Findings and AwardF&A Findings and Award. The judge’s decision. afterward.
Do you appear at my office?
The firm appears at district offices throughout Southern California. If your case is set at a particular office, ask on the call — the answer will be specific.
Sources
Labor Code § 5501.5(a)(1)§ 5501.5(a)(2)§ 5501.5(a)(3)§ 5501.5(b)§ 5501.5(c)§ 5501.6§ 5502(d)(1)§ 5502(d)(3)§ 5903§ 4906§ 5710(b)(5)§ 5811(b)(2)§ 4600(f)§ 4600(g)8 CCR § 10744The DWC district office directory, checked August 19, 2026
General information about California law, not legal advice about your case.
Law Offices of Solov & Teitell, APC · (213) 380-9310
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