WCAB Says No Discretion Allowed for Ex-Parte Communications

Get CEs for reading this column, click here!Maintaining impartiality requires striking from the record the reports and testimony of an independent medical examiner who engaged in ex-parte communications with an attorney, California’s Workers’ Compensation Appeals board has ruled.In the panel decision, Sergio Oseguera v. Links Communications issued Feb. 10, 2010, the WCAB found that violations of the prohibition on ex-parte communications must be strictly enforced, regardless of the intent behind the communications. The ruling mirrors a recent WCAB decision, Alvarez v. WCAB, in that...