Iowa Workers' Compensation

In Merivic, Inc. v. Gutierrez , No. 12-0240 (Iowa App. Nov. 15, 2012), the Iowa Court of Appeals declined to overturn the commissioner's holding in Lovic v. Construction Products, Inc., No. 5015390 (App. Dec. 27, 2007).  The Lovic decision had concluded that a lack of English language skills was a factor to be determined in considering the extent of industrial disability, and also concluded that the failure of a claimant to learn English was not to be considered in determining the client's motivation to work.  Both Gutierrez and Lovic were handled by Jamie Byrne of Neifert, Byrne & Ozga. Gutierrez involved a welder who had injuries to his shoulder and arm.  Claimant English language skills were minimal, and there was conflicting testimony presented at hearing over how easy or difficult it was to learn English for persons who were not native English speakers.  Claimant lost his job as a welder as a result of his injuries, and the commissioner determined that th...

In April of 2012, the Workers' Compensation Core Group of the Iowa Association for Justice had requested a declaratory order from the Iowa Workers' Compensation Commissioner on the issue of the disclosure of surveillance materials.  The gist of the Core Group's request was that section 85.27 of the Iowa Code indicates that employers and claimants in workers' compensation actions agree, as a predicate for making or defending a claim for benefits, "to the release of all information to which the employee, employer, or carrier has access concerning the employee's physical or mental condition relative tot he claim and further waives any privilege for the release of the information."  The Core Group argued that previous agency policy, which had prohibited the disclosure of surveillance material until after the claimant's deposition, was rooted in the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure rather than the workers' compensation statute, and that the broad waiver of...