Justices: Statute Limiting Court's Power Unconstitutional

Statutory language directing the court to decide "within the range of opinions of the treating physician and the Independent Medical Examiner" encroaches on judicial power and is unconstitutional, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled. In Conaghan v. Riverfield Country Day School, 103987, 07/03/2007, the state Supreme Court ruled that while the language usurps court's discretion to decide disability on its own accord, the nonoffending part of the statute could stand. "These restrictions on the workers' compensation court give determinative effect to the opinions of the court-appointed indep...