Holtkamp Trucking Company v. Fletcher

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State: Illinois

Court: 4th District Appellate

Docket No: 4-09-0587 Rel

Case Date: 06/24/2010

Preview:Filed 6/24/10

NO. 4-09-0587 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FOURTH DISTRICT

HOLTKAMP TRUCKING COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DAVID J. FLETCHER, M.D., L.L.C., d/b/a SAFEWORKS ILLINOIS, Defendant-Appellee.

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Appeal from Circuit Court of Macon County No. 09MR300 Honorable Albert G. Webber, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE APPLETON delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiff, Holtkamp Trucking Company, brought this action against defendant, David J. Fletcher, M.D., L.L.C., d/b/a Safeworks Illinois, to compel defendant to comply with a subpoena issued by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission (Commission). See 820 ILCS 305/16 (West 2008). The subpoena commanded defendant to mail to plaintiff's attorney the medical records of one of plaintiff's employees, Jimmy Pease, who was claiming workers' compensation. The circuit court found that by disobeying this administrative subpoena, defendant was in direct civil contempt, and the court ordered defendant to purge itself of the contempt by providing plaintiff a copy of the requested medical records. Even though the circuit court enforced the subpoena, plaintiff appeals for two reasons: (1) the court ordered plaintiff to pay 15 cents for each page of the photocopied medical records, and (2) the court denied plaintiff's request to assess costs, attorney fees, and a fine against defendant, its attorney, or both of them.

As both parties agree, the requirement that plaintiff pay 15 cents per page has no basis in law; therefore, we reverse the portion of the circuit court's judgment imposing that requirement. Otherwise, we affirm the judgment because we find no contumacious behavior of defendant toward the circuit court and, hence, no justification for sanctions. I. BACKGROUND In the course of his employment by plaintiff, Pease sustained an injury. He filed a claim for workers' compensation and obtained medical treatment from defendant. Because of Pease's claim for workers' compensation, plaintiff wished to review his medical records. To that end, plaintiff's attorney, Melinda M. Rowe, obtained a subpoena from the Commission and on March 31, 2009, mailed the subpoena to defendant. The subpoena commanded defendant, by April 20, 2009, to mail to Rowe all records of the examination and treatment of Pease (excluding records pertaining to alcohol or drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, or mental-health problems). In a cover letter, Rowe explained that pursuant to Clayton v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, 311 Ill. App. 3d 135, 724 N.E.2d 222 (2000), she was enclosing a check in the amount of $20 for "subpoena fees." See 705 ILCS 35/4.3(a) (West 2008) ("Every witness attending in any county upon trials in the courts shall be entitled to receive the sum of $20 for each day's attendance and $0.20 per mile each way for necessary travel"). As if to forestall an objection by defendant that $20 was not enough, Rowe asserted that in Clayton, the appellate court held that "the subpoenaed party [was] not entitled to per-page copy fees, retrieval fees, or any other claimed expenses." (Emphasis in original.) On April 8, 2009, defendant's attorney, Eugene F. Keefe, responded to Rowe with an e-mail disagreeing with her interpretation of Clayton. Keefe disputed Rowe's -2-

assertion that the law required defendant to copy and mail the medical records to her in return for $20. He did not understand Clayton as "defin[ing] the costs payable for copying medical or other records." One way of saving defendant the expense of copying the medical records might have been to allow plaintiff or a third party to do the copying when defendant made the records available for inspection. Keefe declared, however, that defendant "would not allow [its] original records to be copied as part of such inspection," and he asserted that the law did not require defendant to allow such copying. Rather, Keefe interpreted Clayton and section 16 of the Workers' Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/16 (West 2008)) as "requir[ing] the keeper of medical records for [defendant] to appear at a hearing and present original records for inspection by the [a]rbitrator," nothing more. Nevertheless, Keefe offered a compromise: he said that defendant would be "happy to comply with any medical records request and copy and mail records based upon the schedule posted by the Illinois State Comptroller" on the Internet, and Keefe gave a Web address. Rather than accept that offer, plaintiff decided to seek enforcement of the subpoena. Section 7030.50(d)(1) of the Commission's rules provided that if a person or organization failed to comply with a subpoena issued by the Commission, the party wishing to obtain enforcement of the subpoena should prepare an application to the circuit court for enforcement of the subpoena, pursuant to section 16 of the Workers' Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/16 (West 2008)). 50 Ill. Adm. Code

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