Newport Beach is in Orange County, and it is where the Law Office of Jesse Melendrez keeps its office, at 4695 MacArthur Court, 11th Floor. When a workers’ comp claim from Newport Beach turns into a dispute that goes before a judge, the case is filed at a district office of the state Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC), and the DWC’s ZIP code list assigns most of the city to its Anaheim office, not to Santa Ana.
Our practice is limited to California workers’ compensation, and we represent injured workers only. Jesse Melendrez is the attorney (State Bar of California #263751, admitted 2009).
The Anaheim office the DWC lists for Newport Beach
The DWC says its district offices are sometimes called WCABs, after the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. They are where workers’ comp judges hear and decide cases. For most Newport Beach ZIP codes, the DWC lists this one:
- Anaheim district office, 1065 N. Link, Suite 170, Anaheim, CA 92806-2131
- Main line 714-414-1800; Information and Assistance (I&A) unit 714-414-1801
Which Newport Beach ZIP codes go to Anaheim?
We checked Newport Beach ZIP codes in the DWC’s ZIP code locator in October 2026. It returned the Anaheim office for 92657 (Newport Coast), 92660, 92661, 92662 and 92663. 92660 is our own office’s ZIP code.
One ZIP code went the other way. For 92625, Corona del Mar, the locator returned the Santa Ana district office at 2 MacArthur Place, Suite 600, phone 714-558-4121.
The DWC describes its ZIP code list as giving the district office “for filing most forms.” Where the application that opens a case may be filed is a separate question, answered by the Labor Code.
Where can a Newport Beach case be filed?
Labor Code section 5501.5 lets the Application for Adjudication of Claim, the form that opens a case at the WCAB, be filed in one of three counties: where the worker lives on the date of filing, where the injury happened (for cumulative trauma, where the last injurious exposure happened), or, for a worker with a lawyer, where the lawyer maintains his or her principal place of business. Our principal office is in Newport Beach, so Orange County is on that list for any worker we represent, wherever the worker lives. Subdivision (c) gives the employer 30 days from receiving the information request form that names that choice to object, and after an objection the case is filed in the county of residence or of injury. Orange County has two offices, so the worker’s written consent to the office chosen is filed with the application.
How we work a case from Newport Beach
We start with the papers the worker already has: the DWC-1 claim form, letters from the claims administrator (the person who handles the claim for the insurer or for an employer that handles its own claims), pay records and medical reports.
If we take the case, we file the application at an office the venue rules allow, keep track of the deadlines, handle the qualified medical evaluator (QME) process and appear at the conferences and trials. The DWC’s guidebook notes that once a worker has a lawyer, others in the case may speak only with the lawyer on important matters.
The DWC says status conferences and mandatory settlement conferences began moving from telephone lines to the CourtCall video platform on March 3, 2025, while trials and expedited hearings are still set in person at the district office.
The benefit problems we handle
| The problem | Where it is explained |
|---|---|
| The claim was denied or delayed | Denied workers’ comp claim |
| Utilization review (UR) denied a treatment request, or independent medical review (IMR) upheld the denial | UR and IMR denials |
| Temporary disability (TD) checks are late, short or stopped | Temporary disability |
| The injury left a lasting impairment | Permanent disability |
| A QME panel letter arrived | QME evaluations |
| Going back to work, or the supplemental job displacement benefit (SJDB) voucher | SJDB voucher and return to work |
| The doctor, or the employer’s medical provider network (MPN), is the problem | Medical treatment and MPN doctors |
Who are the largest employers in Newport Beach?
A hospital tops the principal-employer table in the City of Newport Beach’s financial report for the year ended June 30, 2025, with 5,690 employees. An insurance company, the Irvine Management Company and PIMCO come next, then the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the city itself, two resorts, Glidewell Dental and Tower Semiconductor.
The claim form and the deadlines are the same at each of them. Who answers the claim can differ: the DWC’s guidebook says most claims administrators work for insurance companies or other organizations that handle claims for employers, and some work directly for large employers that handle their own claims.
