Iowa Workers' Compensation

This case began when the Core Group of the Iowa Association for Justice requested the commissioner to enter a declaratory order holding that employers must, under section 85.27(2) of the Iowa Code, provide surveillance materials as a part of normal discovery, and must provide these materials prior to claimant's deposition.  The commissioner found in favor of the Core Group and the Iowa Insurance Institute and others appealed to the district court.  The district court and Court of Appeals affirmed.  In Iowa Insurance Institute et al. v. Core Group etc. and Godfrey , No. 13-1627 (Iowa June 12, 2015), the Supreme Court, in a 5-1 decision , reversed the decision of the commissioner.  The court concludes that the disclosure provisions of section 85.27(2) are "limited to health-care related privileges such as the physician-patient privilege." The court first addressed the procedural mechanism for the grant of a declaratory order under section 17A.9 of the Iowa Code and 8...

In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Plummer , No. 14-0417 (Iowa App. Jan. 28, 2015), the court addressed an issue involving an employee who was admittedly off the clock when he suffered his injury, but who was assisting customers at the store at which he worked.  On the date of the injury, claimant had completed his shift clocked out and was shopping at the store.  When he was leaving, he and a co-worked assisted a customer.  While providing assistance, claimant slipped and fell.  He subsequently completed an incident report designed for customers rather than employees. The deputy concluded that because claimant was no longer on the clock, the injury did not arise out of and in the course of employment.  On appeal, the court indicates that the commissioner did not specifically address the "off the clock" finding, but examined the causal connection between the fall and the subsequent medical treatment. The commissioner found that the visit to the physician four days af...

The Court of Appeals, in a case that is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court, has held that the Commissioner's Declaratory Order indicating that section 85.27 required the release of surveillance materials once surveillance had been conducted was appropriate.   Iowa Insurance Institute et al. v. Core Group of the Iowa Association for Justice , No. 13-1627 (Oct. 29, 2014).  The court, in a 2-1 decision, found that section 85.27 of the Code, in its requirement that the release of all information was required in a workers' compensation case, encompassed the disclosure of surveillance materials. The declaratory order proceeding had been brought by the Core Group of the Iowa Association for Justice (Core Group) before the commissioner to obtain an order elucidating the commissioner's position on this issue.  The Iowa Insurance Institute and other employer and defense counsel groups intervened in the proceedings at the commissioner level.  An initial question in the c...

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...

In one of the more detailed discussions of substantial evidence in workers' compensation cases, the Iowa Supreme Court, in Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Pease , 807 NW2d 839 (Iowa 2011), reversed the decision of the Iowa Court of Appeals that had denied benefits to claimant.  Pease is a classic example of the weighing of the medical evidence that the commissioner must do in reaching a conclusion.  In Ms. Pease's case, the agency concluded that claimant's claim of altered gait, back injuries, and depression were supported by the evidence, and awarded permanent total disability.  The district court affirmed on these issues, but the court of appeals reversed, finding that substantial evidence did not support the findings of the agency. Ms. Pease's original injury was to her right ankle, and she complained that this injury caused her to have an altered gait, contributing to injuries to her back and left ankle.  She also alleged that as a result of these in...