H-1203              _______________________________________________

 

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1087

                        _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

 

By Representatives Wang, Patrick, Sayan, R. King and McMullen; by Joint Select Committee on Workers' Compensation request

 

 

Read first time 2/8/85 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

 

 


AN ACT Relating to administrative procedures of the board of industrial insurance appeals; amending RCW 51.52.100 and 51.52.095; and adding a new section to chapter 51.52 RCW.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

          NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 51.52 RCW to read as follows:

          The board shall, with the assistance of the statute law committee, publish, index, and codify its significant decisions and make them available to the public at reasonable cost.

 

        Sec. 2.  Section 51.52.100, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 8, chapter 109, Laws of 1982 and RCW 51.52.100 are each amended to read as follows:

          Hearings shall be held in the county of the residence of the worker or beneficiary, or in the county where the injury occurred, at a place designated by the board.  Such hearing shall be de novo and summary, but no witness' testimony shall be received unless he or she shall first have been sworn to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in the matter being heard, or unless his or her testimony shall have been taken by deposition according to the statutes and rules relating to superior courts of this state.  The department shall be entitled to appear in all proceedings before the board and introduce testimony in support of its order.  The board shall cause all oral testimony to be stenographically reported and thereafter transcribed, and when transcribed, the same, with all depositions, shall be filed in, and remain a part of, the record on the appeal.  In addition, the board, at its discretion, may permit the videotape recording of testimony of witnesses.  Such hearings on appeal to the board may be conducted by one or more of its members, or a duly authorized industrial appeals judge, and depositions may be taken by a person duly commissioned for the purpose by the board.

          Members of the board, its duly authorized industrial appeals judges, and all persons duly commissioned by it for the purpose of taking depositions, shall have power to administer oaths; to preserve and enforce order during such hearings; to issue subpoenas for, and to compel the attendance and testimony of, witnesses, or the production of books, papers, documents, and other evidence, or the taking of depositions before any designated individual competent to administer oaths, and it shall be their duty so to do to examine witnesses; and to do all things conformable to law which may be necessary to enable them, or any of them, effectively to discharge the duties of his or her office.

          If any person in proceedings before the board disobeys or resists any lawful order or process, or misbehaves during a hearing or so near the place thereof as to obstruct the same, or neglects to produce, after having been ordered so to do, any pertinent book, paper or document, or refuses to appear after having been subpoenaed, or upon appearing refuses to take oath as a witness, or after having the oath refuses to be examined according to law, the board or any member or duly authorized industrial appeals judge may certify the facts to the superior court having jurisdiction in the place in which said board or member or industrial appeals judge is sitting; the court shall thereupon, in a summary manner, hear the evidence as to the acts complained of, and, if the evidence so warrants, punish such person in the same manner and to the same extent as for a contempt committed before the court, or commit such person upon the same conditions as if the doing of the forbidden act had occurred with reference to the proceedings, or in the presence, of the court.

 

        Sec. 3.  Section 51.52.095, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 7, chapter 109, Laws of 1982 and RCW 51.52.095 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) The board, upon request of the worker, beneficiary, or employer, or upon its own motion, may direct all parties interested in an appeal, together with their attorneys, if any, to appear before it, a member of the board, or an authorized industrial appeals judge, for a conference for the purpose of determining the feasibility of settlement, the simplification of issues of law and fact, the necessity of amendments to the notice of appeal or other pleadings, the possibility of obtaining admissions of fact and of documents which will avoid unnecessary proof, the limitation of the number of expert witnesses, and such other matters as may aid in the disposition of the appeal.  Such conference may be held prior to the hearing, or it may be held during the hearing, at the discretion of the board member or industrial appeals judge conducting the same, in which case the hearing will be recessed for such conference.  Following the conference, the board member or industrial appeals judge conducting the same, shall state on the record the results of such conference, and the parties present or their representatives shall state their concurrence on the record.  Such agreement as stated on the record shall control the subsequent course of the proceedings, unless modified at a subsequent hearing to prevent manifest injustice.  If agreement concerning final disposition of the appeal is reached by the parties present at the conference, or by the employer and worker or beneficiary, the board may enter a final decision and order in accordance therewith, providing the board finds such agreement is in conformity with the law and the facts.

          (2) In order to carry out subsection (1) of this section, the board shall appoint a mediation corps to conduct settlement conferences.  The mediation corps shall be composed of industrial appeals judges who have received training on dispute resolution techniques.  Where possible, the judges appointed to the mediation corps should have a demonstrated history of successfully resolving disputes.  No industrial appeals judge may be assigned a case for hearing or for writing a proposed decision and order in a case in which he or she has conducted a settlement conference.