Policy 4

Hearings - Testimony - Expert Witnesses

Efficient use of the time of physicians and other expert witnesses in workers' compensation cases can be enhanced by allowing experts to be "on-call" (rather than present in the hearing room until their testimony is needed), and by the use of telephone testimony.

 (a) Judges have the authority to allow witnesses to be on-call, and the ability to manage that process to result in the most efficient use of hearing time for all participants.  When parties have a witness on call they should advise the judge of that fact at the start of the hearing, and inform the judge of any scheduling considerations, such as the amount of lead time needed for the witness to travel to the hearing. 

 (b) Telephone testimony is authorized by the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure, which are applicable to workers' compensation cases. Whenever possible the Office of Administrative Courts will make available facilities which permit the experts testifying on both sides of the case to be included in the conference call, so that each can hear the other's testimony.