Colorado: Employer and Carrier Need Not Disclose If They Made Gifts to State Comp Judges

A workers’ compensation claimant may not require a workers’ compensation insurer or counsel for the insured employer to respond to a discovery request that they disclose any gifts “of monetary value” to anyone working for the various Colorado offices administering and adjudicating the state’s workers compensation law. The employer had refused to provide the information, contending the request was too broad and overly burdensome. The claimant moved to compel, arguing that the state’s district court judges were required to disclose their financial contributions, yet workers’ compensation prehearing administrative law judges, administrative law judges and members of the Industrial Claim Appeals Office were not. The claimant said he needed the disclosure because he could not obtain the financial information “automatically” through public financial disclosure. The state appellate court disagreed and noted that under an existing executive order, administrative judges were bound to the same disclosure rules as those in district court.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

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See Kilpatrick v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 2015 COA 30, 2015 Colo. App. LEXIS 348 (Mar. 12, 2015) [2015 COA 30, 2015 Colo. App. LEXIS 348 (Mar. 12, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 124.02 [124.02]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/colorado-employer-and-carrier-need-not-disclose-if-they-made-gifts-to-state-comp-judges/

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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