Colorado § 8-43-211 - Notice - request for hearing.

§ 8-43-211. Notice - request for hearing.

(1) At least thirty days before any hearing, the office of administrative courts in the department of personnel shall send written notice to all parties by regular or electronic mail. The notice must:

(a) Give the time, date, and place of the hearing;

(b) Inform the parties that they must be prepared to present their evidence concerning the issues to be heard;

(c) Inform the parties that they have the right to be represented by an attorney or other person of their choice at the hearing.

(2) Hearings shall be set by the office of administrative courts in the department of personnel within eighty to one hundred twenty days after any of the following occur:

(a) The director sets any issue for hearing. The director may expedite the hearing for good cause shown.

(b) Any party requests a hearing on issues ripe for adjudication by filing a written request with the office of administrative courts in the department of personnel on forms provided by the office. The request shall be mailed to all parties at the time they are filed with the office of administrative courts. After the filing of the requests, the office of administrative courts in the department of personnel shall set the matter for hearing insofar as is practicable in the order in which requests are received by the office of administrative courts.

(c) Any party or the attorney of such party sends notice to set a hearing on issues ripe for adjudication to opposing parties or their attorneys. The director of the office of administrative courts shall determine the place and time or times during which settings can be made. At such setting, the party requesting the setting shall submit a completed request for hearing form. Any notice to set shall be mailed to opposing parties at least ten days prior to the setting date.

(3) If an attorney requests a hearing or files a notice to set a hearing on an issue that is not ripe for adjudication at the time the request or filing is made, the attorney may be assessed the reasonable attorney fees and costs of the opposing party in preparing for the hearing or setting. The requesting party must prove its attempt to have an unripe issue stricken by a prehearing administrative law judge to request fees or costs. Requested fees or costs incurred after a prehearing conference may only be awarded if they are directly caused by the listing of the unripe issue.

(4) Except in claims in which compensability is contested or a hearing is requested in response to a final admission of liability or to overcome a conclusion in a division-sponsored independent medical examination, the party filing an application for a hearing shall certify on the application that the party attempted to resolve with the other parties all issues listed in the application for a hearing.

Source: L. 90: Entire article R&RE, p. 505, § 1, effective July 1. L. 91: Entire section amended, p. 1319, § 29, effective July 1. L. 95: IP(1), IP(2), and (2)(b) amended, p. 636, § 15, effective July 1. L. 2003: (2)(e) added, p. 1957, § 3, effective May 22. L. 2005: IP(1), IP(2), (2)(b), and (2)(c) amended, p. 855, § 15, effective June 1. L. 2007: (2)(e) amended, p. 1474, § 6, effective May 30. L. 2009: IP(1) amended, (HB 09-1150), ch. 309, p. 1665, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2013: (2)(d) amended, (SB 13-285), ch. 301, p. 1594, § 5, effective July 1. L. 2014: Entire section amended, (SB 14-191), ch. 316, p. 1372, § 4, effective July 1. L. 2026: IP(1) amended, (SB 26-186), ch. 315, p. 1851, § 10, effective August 12.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 8-53-109 as it existed prior to 1990.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Dispute Resolution in Worker's Compensation", see 18 Colo. Law. 921 (1989). For article, "A Different Kind of Representative: DBA v. PUC Revisited", see 36 Colo. Law. 53 (Dec. 2007).

Annotator's note. Since § 8-43-215 is similar to § 8-53-109 as it existed prior to the 1990 repeal and reenactment of the "Workers' Compensation Act of Colorado", articles 40 to 47 of this title, a relevant case construing that provision has been included in the annotations to this section.

Administrative law judge abused his discretion when he deprived petitioner of the right to substantiate its claim that its petition for review was timely filed, by ruling on pending motions without setting the matter for a full evidentiary hearing and complying with the notice provisions of subsection (1)(c). Pueblo Sch. Dist. No. 60 v. Clementi, 776 P.2d 1152 (Colo. App. 1989).

A person who raises an unripe issue must pay attorney fees and costs despite other issues being ripe. If a person requests a hearing on an issue that is not independently ripe for adjudication, the person must be assessed the reasonable attorney fees and costs of the opposing party. Youngs v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 2012 COA 85M, 297 P.3d 964.

Question of whether an appeal was filed in bad faith could not be decided until the appeal was adjudicated and appellant was entitled to attorney fees and costs pursuant to subsection (2)(d) from appellee who applied for a hearing requesting penalties against appellant for filing a frivolous appeal before such appeal was adjudicated. BCW Enters. v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 964 P.2d 533 (Colo. App. 1997).

Selection of an authorized treating physician as ordered by a medical utilization review committee was ripe for a hearing notwithstanding that the injured employee's appeal of the order was still pending; thus the denial of attorney fees was proper. The statute requires the parties to act quickly to select a new authorized treating physician regardless of whether an appeal has been filed. Franz v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 250 P.3d 1284 (Colo. App. 2010).