Injured workers should have received doctor’s fee reimbursement: Court

The Wyoming Office of Administrative Hearings wrongly denied medical examiner fees to injured workers in two separate cases, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The OAH argued that it lacked statutory authority under the workers’ compensation law to order reimbursement of medical experts’ fees in cases where a physician performing independent medical examinations at the claimant’s request was not appointed by the OAH.

The consolidated cases were Terry J. Leal v. State of Wyoming et al. and Dustin Kopp v. State of Wyoming et al.

“The OAH has the authority to order reimbursement of expert medical witness fees reasonably incurred by an employee in contested cases,” the high court wrote. “The OAH’s contrary finding was not in accordance with the law.”