New York: Attorney’s Short Text Message to Physician Was Not Improper

A short text message sent only to a physician, and not to opposing counsel, notifying the doctor that his upcoming deposition would address claimant’s schedule loss of use, was not the sort of ex partecommunication that gave the appearance of impropriety or improper interference on the part of the “offending” attorney. Accordingly, it was error for the New York Board to bar the introduction of the physician’s report and testimony at a later hearing, indicated a divided state appellate court. The majority said the message was only “ministerial in nature” and did not reflect an effort to influence the physician’s testimony or opinion.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Matter of Knapp v. Bette & Cring LLC, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8159 (Nov. 29, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 127.05.

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see