Colorado § 8-43-210 - Evidence.

§ 8-43-210. Evidence.

Notwithstanding section 24-4-105, C.R.S., the Colorado rules of evidence and requirements of proof for civil nonjury cases in the district courts shall apply in all hearings; except that medical and hospital records, physicians' reports, vocational reports, and records of the employer are admissible as evidence and can be filed in the record as evidence without formal identification if relevant to any issue in the case. Depositions may be substituted for testimony upon good cause shown. Convictions for alcohol-related offenses, pursuant to titles 18 and 42, C.R.S., the transcripts of proceedings leading to such convictions, and the court files relating to such convictions may be admissible in all hearings conducted under the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado", articles 40 to 47 of this title, where such conviction resulted from the same occurrence, accident, or injury occurring on the job that forms the basis for the workers' compensation claim. All relevant medical records, vocational reports, expert witness reports, and employer records shall be exchanged with all other parties at least twenty days prior to the hearing date.

Source: L. 90: Entire article R&RE, p. 505, § 1, effective July 1; entire section amended, p. 578, § 2, effective July 1. L. 99: Entire section amended, p. 994, § 1, effective May 29. L. 2007: Entire section amended, p. 1473, § 5, effective May 30.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 8-53-115 as it existed prior to 1990.

ANNOTATION

A tribunal has broad discretion to determine the admissibility of expert testimony and appellate courts may not overturn a ruling unless it is manifestly erroneous. An ALJ is accorded similar discretion in a workers' compensation proceeding. One Hour Cleaners v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 914 P.2d 501 (Colo. App. 1995).

Letter properly admitted into evidence. The letter written by claimant's employer was a vocational report and a record of the employer. Therefore, such letter was properly admitted into evidence. Churchill v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 720 P.2d 171 (Colo. App. 1986) (decided under former § 8-53-115 as it existed prior to the 1990 repeal and reenactment of the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado", articles 40 to 47 of title 8).

Physician's letter calculating claimant's probable blood alcohol level at the time of the accident, explaining the adverse effects of such ethanol levels on claimant' abilities to function while driving, and concluding that the adverse effects of the ethanol in claimant's body would have contributed to, if not caused, claimant's accident, are "physicians' reports" within the meaning of the statute and therefore admissible. Ackerman v. Hilton's Mechanical Men, 914 P.2d 524 (Colo. App. 1996).

Section 8-41-301 (2) does not require that a mental impairment claimant produce a live witness in all cases. Such a requirement would serve no legitimate purpose and would result in an equal protection violation when other claimants are allowed to submit expert reports and only provide the expert witness when the opposing party chooses to examine the expert. Esser v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 8 P.3d 1218 (Colo. App. 2000), aff'd on other grounds, 30 P.3d 189 (Colo. 2001).

Exceptions to the 20-day rule are clearly contemplated by the allowance of continuances to file additional reports in appropriate circumstances, such as those stated in § 8-43-209 (3). Ortega v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 207 P.3d 895 (Colo. App. 2009).