Petition for Rehearing Filed in Surveillance Declaratory Order
On June 12, 2015 we posted on the Iowa Supreme Court’s lengthy ruling on the Surveillance Declaratory Order. That post can be found here:
In that decision, the Iowa Supreme Court concluded that Iowa Code §85.27(2) is limited to health-care related privileges such as the physician patient privilege and does not affect privileges and protections related to the litigation process, such as the work product doctrine. In affect, the Iowa Supreme Court held that an employer is not required to immediately disclose any surveillance or other information, as it is protected by the work product doctrine.
Since that decision came down, The Core Group of Iowa has now petitioned the Iowa Supreme Court for a rehearing of their decision. In their Petition the Core Group argues that the Court’s determination that Iowa Code §85.27(2) is ambiguous was wrong. The Court had held that §85.27(2) was ambiguous when it stated that “all” privileges and protections would not be waived by employers, but rather the health-care related context of the statute limited the word “all” to only health-care related documents. The Core Group argues that the word “all” should not be applied to only a health-care related context, but should be interpreted literally.
Now the Supreme Court must decide whether or not to rehear the case. Whether the Supreme Court decides to rehear the case, any update related to this matter can be found right here on this blog. In the meantime, for questions or additionally information on this topic, please do not hesitate to contact an Iowa Workers’ Compensation attorney at 402.475.1075.