Qualified Medical Evaluators; Ex Parte Communications. Court of Appeal, annulling WCAB decision and remanding matter, held that Labor Code Sec. 4062.3(f) expressly prohibits ex parte communications with panel qualified medical evaluator, with only exception, as set forth in Labor Code Sec. 4062.3(h), being for communication by employee or deceased employee's dependent in connection with examination, but that, because certain degree of informality of workers' compensation procedures has been recognized, not every conceivable ex parte communication permits party to obtain new evaluation from another panel qualified medical evaluator, when Court of Appeal found that panel qualified medical evaluator telephoned defense counsel to request additional copy of medical records that qualified medical evaluator could not locate, that statute, contrary to WCAB's conclusion, is not limited to situation in which party initiates ex parte communication, that statute does not state that ex parte communications are permissible if subject matter is administrative or procedural rather than substantive or on merits, that prejudice, or lack thereof, is not to be considered in determining whether statute has been violated, but that ex party communication may be so insignificant and inconsequential that any resulting repercussion would be unreasonable, that Court of Appeal should not interpret or apply statutory language in manner that will lead to absurd results, that communication so peripheral to operative proceedings of case as to be insignificant should not invoke remedy under Labor Code Sec. 4062.3, and that on remand WCAB should reevaluate its conclusion based on principles Court of Appeal has discussed and not based on any distinction between "administrative" and "substantive" nature of communication or on who initiated communication. © Copyright 2010 LexisNexis. All rights reserved. See Alvarez v. W.C.A.B.