(1) Notwithstanding any provision of articles 40 to 47 of this title to the contrary, at any time not less than ten days prior to the formal adjudication on the record of any issue before the director or an administrative law judge in the office of administrative courts, any party to a claim may request a prehearing conference before a prehearing administrative law judge in the division of workers' compensation for the speedy resolution of or simplification of any issues and to determine the general readiness of remaining issues for formal adjudication on the record. The issues addressed in such prehearing conference shall be limited to: Ripeness of legal, but not factual, issues for formal adjudication on the record before the director or an administrative law judge in the office of administrative courts; discovery matters; and evidentiary disputes. The filing of an application for hearing with the office of administrative courts shall not be a prerequisite to a request for a prehearing conference under this section. The director and the administrative law judges in the office of administrative courts may also request a prehearing conference under this section.
"Prehearing administrative law judge" means a qualified person appointed by thedirector pursuant to section 8-47-101 to preside over prehearing conferences pursuant to this section, to approve settlements pursuant to section 8-43-204, to conduct settlement conferences pursuant to section 8-43-206, and to conduct arbitrations pursuant to section 8-43-206.5. Such prehearing administrative law judges shall have authority to: Order any party to participate in a prehearing conference; issue interlocutory orders; issue subpoenas in the name of the division for production of documentary evidence which shall be served in the same manner as subpoenas in the district court; make evidentiary rulings; permit parties to cause depositions to be taken; determine the competency of any party to a claim to enter into a settlement agreement; and strike the application for hearing of a party for failure to comply with any provision of this section.
An order entered by a prehearing administrative law judge shall be an order of thedirector and binding on the parties. Such an order shall be interlocutory. Prehearing conferences need not be held on the record; however, any party to a claim may request in advance that a record be made of the prehearing conference, either taken verbatim by a court reporter provided and paid for by the requesting party or electronically recorded by the division.
The director shall adopt rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement theprovisions of this section.
Source: L. 94: Entire section added, p. 1875, § 6, effective June 1. L. 2005: (1) amended, p. 855, § 13, effective June 1.