Iowa Workers' Compensation

  Hagen v. Serta/National Bedding Co., LLC No. 22-0684 (App. March 29, 2023) In this action, claimant failed to provide timely notification of his expert physician and voactional expert.  The reports from the experts were also filed in an untimely manner, with both reports being provided approximately two weeks before the arbitration hearing.  Prior to the hearing, the employer asserted that the experts were not timely identified and their reports were not timely produced.  The employer argued that admission of the reports would be unduly prejudicial under 876 IAC 4.19 and urged that the use of the reports be precluded.  Claimant argued that the reports, although not timely produced, did not give rise to undue prejudice and that the remedy should be allowing defendants to produce rebuttal evidence.  The deputy decided to exclude the reports and claimant requested rehearing on the issue, which was denied.  The commissioner affirmed, finding that althou...

  Waterloo Community School District v. DeMaldonado No. 22-0845 (Iowa App. Feb. 8, 2023) Claimant had years of treatment, primarily physical therapy, for numerous injuries sustained while working.  After several years of treatment, she sought alternate medical care in the form of pain management recommended by her treating physician, which was denied by the employer.  In the application for alternate medical care, the deputy concluded that claimant had proved that the care provided was unreasonable but denied that the employer had abandoned care.  The school district appealed to the district court, which affirmed the decision of the commissioner. As an initial matter, the Court of Appeals addressed an argument made by claimant that the employer's judicial review petition had not been timely filed.  The claimant had initially filed for alternate medical care, but had dismissed the petition and then refiled.  In the judicial review action, the employer had a...