Kansas Appellate Court Agrees That Independent Medical Examiner’s Report Was Properly Excluded After Improper Contact By Counsel
The Court of Appeals of Kansas affirmed a decision from the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board to exclude the testimony and report of an independent medical examiner as a sanction for the claimant’s counsel’s violation of a no-contact order. The case involved a worker that performed maintenance for an aircraft company for 30-plus years and complained of multiple back injuries. Following an order from an ALJ not to contact the appointed independent medical examiner without the court’s approval and notice to the opposing counsel, the claimant’s counsel sent a letter to the examiner providing an extensive review of the claimant’s medical and employment history and requesting specific findings. The ALJ concluded, and the Workers’ Compensation Board and appellate court agreed, that this behavior could not be allowed and that the testimony of the independent medical examiner, his report, and a later report that relied on the tainted report, should be excluded from evidence.
