by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
In our July 18, 2013 blog, we detailed how Judge Hart found insurance company doctor Michael J. Katz, MD, to have lied on the witness stand about an "Independent Medical Exam" (IME) he conducted. Previously, Dr. Robert Israel had been placed on a 3 year probation for professional misconduct relative to IME's he conducted for insurers. Needless to say, insurers who relied on exams performed by these doctors with new found shattered credibility, were sent scrambling to find a way out from having to use these doctors on the witness stand.
Insurers that used Dr. Israel recently made motions in several cases essentially asking the court for the proverbial "do over", allowing them to use a new doctor to re-examine claimants. The reasoning offered was that if Dr. Israel testified, he would violate a consent order that prohibited the doctor to engage in "any practice as an Independent Medical Examiner." The motions made by defendants were denied by Judge Kenneth P. Sherman, as such was deemed an insufficient basis to allow defendants to escape sleeping in the bed they made.
It seems more than likely that similar attempts to escape fate, will be made by defendants on cases that used Dr. Michael J. Katz. However, it is expected that the result will be the same. Unfortunately, in these matters there are good and bad on both sides of the equation. The important thing is that justice be even handed for both sides, in order to foster true and honest results. As in major league baseball, the courts must promulgate that in the law, there is no room for cheaters.
Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
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