Discovery

(1) Parties are encouraged to obtain any necessary discovery informally to avoid undue expense and delay. When these attempts fail or the complexity of the case makes informal discovery impracticable, discovery must be sought in accordance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure unless these rules provide an alternative procedure. (2) A party may serve written discovery requests on any other party at any time after a petition for benefit determination is filed. (a) All written discovery requests must be answered under oath and in accordance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. The responding party must supplement its answers in a timely manner whenever additional information becomes available or the responses provided in a previous response change. (b) No party may serve more than twenty (20) interrogatories, twenty (20) requests for production, and twenty (20) requests for admission on any party without approval of the judge. Any subpart is counted as its own interrogatory or request. (c) The judge may increase or decrease the time allowed for answering written discovery requests. (d) Except as required when filing a discovery-related motion, no written discovery requests or answers may be filed with the clerk. (3) All depositions must be taken within the timeframe in the scheduling order, or if no scheduling order exists, within the time allowed by the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. (a) The deposition must be taken as provided by the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. (b) Written notice must be provided in accordance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. (c) No oral deposition may continue for more than four (4) hours, excluding breaks. (4) Licensed physicians may charge their usual, customary fee for providing testimony by deposition, provided that the fee does not exceed seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) for the first hour. (a) Depositions longer than one (1) hour will be pro-rated at the licensed physician’s usual, customary fee as above, not to exceed four hundred fifty dollars ($450) per hour for deposition time in excess of one (1) hour. Physicians may not charge for the first fifteen (15) minutes of preparation time. In instances requiring over fifteen (15) minutes of preparation time, a physician’s preparation time in excess of fifteen (15) minutes may be added to and included in the deposition time and billed at the same rate as for the deposition. COURT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS AND CHAPTER 0800-02-21 ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (b) Physicians may require pre-payment of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) maximum for a deposition or in-person appearance. Following the deposition, the physician may bill for any additional amount due. The payer may recover any amount overpaid. (c) An additional fee of up to two hundred fifty dollars ($250) may be charged for a video deposition. (d) Physicians who are late for a deposition may only be reimbursed for the time in attendance and not from the time of the scheduled deposition. (e) Instead of a physician’s deposition, a party may file a standard form medical report for industrial injuries (Form C-32) with the clerk. The physician may charge a fee of up to one hundred fifty dollars ($150) for completion and certification of the form. (5) In the event of a discovery dispute, either party may file a motion at any time after a petition for benefit determination is filed. All discovery-related motions will be decided on the written materials unless the judge determines that argument is needed. Affidavits may be provided in support of any motion or response; live testimony is prohibited. Any motion to compel discovery, motion to quash, motion for protective order, or other discovery-related motion must: (a) Quote verbatim the interrogatory, request, question, or subpoena at issue or be accompanied by a copy of the interrogatory, request, subpoena, or excerpt of a deposition that shows the question and objection or response if applicable. If the entire set of discovery requests were unanswered, the moving party need not file the entire set with its motion; (b) State the reason or reasons supporting the motion; and (c) Include a statement certifying that the moving party or his or her counsel made a good- faith effort to resolve by agreement the issues in the motion and an agreement was not achieved. The statement must detail the efforts to resolve the dispute. (6) If requested, the clerk will issue signed subpoenas in blank in accordance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. (a) Parties must complete and serve their own subpoenas. (b) Service of subpoenas for records may be by certified, return-receipt mail in addition to means of service provided by the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. (c) Service of subpoenas compelling witnesses’ appearance at a hearing must be made in the manner provided by the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, and a signed copy of the original must be filed with the clerk. (d) All subpoenas compelling witnesses’ appearance at a hearing must be served no later than five (5) business days before the hearing unless the judge extends this period. (e) Anyone who fails to timely respond to a subpoena for documents or testimony or who fails to appear at a hearing under a properly served subpoena may be assessed a civil penalty.