Code of Massachusetts Regulations
452 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
Title 452 CMR 1.00 - Adjudicatory Rules of the Industrial Accident Board
Section 1.10 - Conferences

Universal Citation: 452 MA Code of Regs 452.1

Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024

(1) The administrative judge shall preside over the conference held pursuant to M.G.L. c. 152, § 10A. Such conference shall be informal, and inquiries and investigations shall not be subject to the rules of evidence applied in this Commonwealth.

(2) The parties shall prepare for submission at the outset of a conference a memorandum setting forth the benefits claimed and the issues in dispute, the facts stipulated, the exhibits to be marked for identification, the names of witnesses to be presented, a summary of their anticipated testimony, the estimated length of the hearing, and such other matter as may be allowed or required. Such memorandum may be amended by the parties, with the leave of the administrative judge, at or before the hearing. At a conference involving a medical issue, the parties shall also identify to the administrative judge as part of the required memorandum:

(a) the medical issue(s) in dispute requiring the filing of the requisite fee;

(b) a list of documents to be included in the medical records to be sent to an impartial physician; any hypotheticals or disclosure questions to be submitted to the impartial physician upon the judge's approval; identification of a specialty or the names of up to three impartial physicians in order of preference if agreed upon; and the names of any additional physicians anticipated to be requested at hearing to be deposed;

(c) any objections to the documents included in the medical records and hypotheticals to be submitted to the impartial physician.

(3) All conference impartial medical packet submissions (medical and hypothetical questions), and non-medical submissions shall be submitted to the Department of Industrial Accidents electronically or by compact disc (CD), on or before the date of the scheduled conference.

(a) The conference submissions must be emailed to both the judge and his/her administrative assistant. Additional medical documents and hypothetical questions that were not part of the Conference packet will only be accepted and forwarded to the impartial examiner if received by the Department at least 15 business days prior to the scheduled impartial examination. Any additional medical documents received within fifteen business days of the examination will only be accepted at the discretion of the administrative judge and the Senior Judge.

(b) The medical and non-medical packet must be submitted separately. Electronic submissions must be in Portable Document Format (PDF) and in optical character recognition format (text-recognizable/OCR). Each packet shall:
1. have a table of contents page that contains:
a. board number;

b. date of injury;

c. employee's name;

d. employer's name;

e. insurer;

f. heading;

g. submitting party; and

h. date of the document.

2. have functioning bookmarks link;

3. have medical records that are clean of notations, underlining, or highlighting of text (unless those markings are in the original documents); and,

4. not contain dividing pages separating each facility's or doctors' reports.

(c) Conference submissions that do not meet submission criteria will not be accepted, and the party will be requested to resubmit the documents. A hard copy of these submissions may be submitted to the administrative judge at the conference. Bar code sheets are not required for the conference medical packet or the non-medical packets submitted electronically. If a pro se litigant has no access to electronic means of document transmission she or he must prepare separate hard copies of the conference medical and non-medical packets which must contain a table of contents as set forth in 452 CMR 1.10(3)(b) l.a. through h., with tabs for each section of the packet. Bar code cover sheets must be prepared by the party at the Department and those sheets must accompany each conference packet.

(4) No stenographic transcription or electronic recording shall be made of the conference proceedings under M.G.L. c. 152, § 10A, except that the administrative judge, if he deems it to be in the interest of justice, may require such transcription or recording or, with the consent of all parties, may allow any party, at its own expense, to make a transcription or recording of the proceedings.

(5) No impartial physician shall be required in disputed matters concerning death and matters where the dispute over entitlement to weekly benefits concerns specific period(s) of prior disability.

(6) In disputes regarding the extent of incapacity where the parties agree upon both the nature of the impairment as well as the causal relationship between the impairment and the employment, subject to the provisions of M.G.L. c. 152, § 11 A(2) and 452 CMR 1.02, the parties may agree in writing at the time of conference that an impartial physician is not required.

(7) In claims where initial liability has not been established, subject to the provisions of M.G.L. c. 152, § 11A(2) and 452 CMR 1.02, the parties may agree in writing at the time of conference that an impartial physician is not required.

(8) In cases where no impartial physician is required the requisite fee pursuant to M.G.L. c. 152, § 11 A(2) shall not be required.

(9) No impartial physician shall be required where an administrative judge has determined, based upon the information submitted at the M.G.L. c. 152, § 10A conference, that there is no dispute over medical issues and has so stated in the M.G.L. c. 152, § 10A conference order.

(10) The responsibility for providing and paying for an interpreter when needed at the M.G.L. c. 152, § 10A conference rests with the party that files the claim or complaint. Thereafter, responsibility for providing and paying for an interpreter, whenever one is needed, rests with the party appealing from the conference order. If both parties appeal from the M.G.L. c. 152, § 10A conference order, the responsibility of providing and paying for such interpreter rests with the party that filed the claim or complaint.

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