(a) A findings and award that is the subject of a demand on the Uninsured Employers Fund or an approved compromise and release or stipulated findings and award entered into by the director pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 3715, or a decision and order of the rehabilitation unit of the Division of Workers’ Compensation, that has become final, shall constitute a liquidated claim for damages against an employer in the amount so ascertained and fixed by the appeals board, and the appeals board shall certify the same to the director who may institute a civil action against the employer in the name of the director, as administrator of the Uninsured Employers Fund, for the collection of the award, or may obtain a judgment against the employer pursuant to Section 5806. In the event that the appeals board finds that a corporation is the employer of an injured employee, and that the corporation has not secured the payment of compensation as required by this chapter, the following persons shall be jointly and severally liable with the corporation to the director in the action:

(1) All persons who are a parent, as defined in Section 175 of the Corporations Code, of the corporation.

(2) All persons who are substantial shareholders, as defined in subdivision (b), of the corporation or its parent. In the action it shall be sufficient for plaintiff to set forth a copy of the findings and award of the appeals board relative to the claims as certified by the appeals board to the director and to state that there is due to plaintiff on account of the finding and award of the appeals board a specified sum which plaintiff claims with interest. The director shall be further entitled to costs and reasonable attorney fees, and to his or her investigation and litigation expenses for the appeals board proceedings, and a reasonable attorney fee for litigating the appeals board proceedings. A certified copy of the findings and award in the claim shall be attached to the complaint. The contents of the findings and award shall be deemed proved. The answer or demurrer to the complaint shall be filed within 10 days, the reply or demurrer to the answer within 20 days, and the demurrer to the reply within 30 days after the return day of the summons or service by publication. All motions and demurrers shall be submitted to the court within 10 days after they are filed. At the time the civil action filed pursuant to this section is at issue, it shall be placed at the head of the trial docket and shall be first in order for trial.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preclude informal adjustment by the director of a claim for compensation benefits before the issuance of findings and award wherever it appears to the director that the employer is uninsured and that informal adjustment will facilitate the expeditious delivery of compensation benefits to the injured employee.

(b) As used in this section, “substantial shareholder” means a shareholder who owns at least 15 percent of the total value of all classes of stock, or, if no stock has been issued, who owns at least 15 percent of the beneficial interests in the corporation.

(c) For purposes of this section, in determining the ownership of stock or beneficial interest in the corporation, in the determination of whether a person is a substantial shareholder of the corporation, the rules of attribution of ownership of Section 17384 of the Revenue and Taxation Code shall be applied.

(d) For purposes of this section, “corporation” shall not include:

(1) Any corporation which is the issuer of any security which is exempted by Section 25101 of the Corporations Code from Section 25130 of the Corporations Code.

(2) Any corporation which is the issuer of any security exempted by subdivision (c), (d), or (i) of Section 25100 of the Corporations Code from Sections 25110, 25120, and 25130 of the Corporations Code.

(3) Any corporation which is the issuer of any security which has qualified either by coordination, as provided by Section 25111 of the Corporations Code, or by notification, as provided by Section 25112 of the Corporations Code.

(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 146, Sec. 148. Effective January 1, 1995.)