68 year old Joe Capurro, who lives in San Jose, has been appointed to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.
He graduated from California State University, Hayward, in 1977 with a BA in Political Science. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law and has been a certified specialist in the field of Workers Compensation for over 20 years.
He has practiced in the field of Workers Compensation Law since he was admitted to the California Bar in 1980. He is a sole practitioner at The Law Office of Joseph V. Capurro in San Jose, CA, and has represented injured workers before the Workers Compensation Appeals Board, various California Courts of Appeal, and the California Supreme Court.
He was an Attorney and Managing Partner at Capurro, Rocha & Schmidt from 1980 to 2012.
He is an active member of the California Applicants Attorneys Association and has served as a member of the Board of Directors. He currently serves on several committees of the organization and is Co-Chair of the Amicus Curiae Committee.
He is a frequent lecturer on matters involving Workers Compensation, particularly on the topic of recent case law developments.
Additional memberships include the Santa Clara County Bar Association, the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group, and the American Association for Justice.
In a notable published court of appeal decision, he appeared for California Applicants’ Attorneys Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent. in the case of Joe Notrica v SCIF, 83 Cal.Rptr.2d 89 (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th 911 (March 1999).
Joe Notrica, doing business as Notrica’s 32nd Street Market, sued his workers’ compensation insurer, State Compensation Insurance Fund to recover in tort and for unfair business practices, based on allegations relating to SCIF’s case reserve and claims handling policies and practices.
In a bifurcated proceeding, the jury awarded Notrica $478,606 in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages; the trial court enjoined SCIF from various business practices and awarded $333,319.65 in attorneys’ fees.
SCIF appealed, and the court of appeal concluded that the punitive damages award must be reduced to $5 million and otherwise affirmed the trial court.
And the Internet Movie Database credits Joe Capurro for appearing in the 2017 documentary “Workers Con” which was written and directed by Julia Davis. The documentary claimed that “Workers Compensation, is the Worker’s Con, a process flawed, buried in bureaucracy, adding insult to injury.”
This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $170,463.