H. B. 2172
(By Delegate Huffman)
[Introduced February 18, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article one,
chapter twenty-three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
workers' compensation and permitting a corporate employer to
be represented in proceedings before the commissioner by a
director or an officer of the corporation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article one, chapter twenty-three of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.
§23-1-13. Rules of procedure and evidence; persons authorized to
appear in proceedings.
(a) The commissioner shall adopt reasonable and proper rules
of procedure, regulate and provide for the kind and character of
notices, and the service thereof, in cases of accident and injury
to employees, the nature and extent of the proofs and evidence,the method of taking and furnishing the same to establish the
rights to benefits or compensation from the fund hereinafter
provided for, or directly from employers as hereinafter provided,
as the case may require, and the method of making investigations,
physical examinations and inspections, and prescribe the time
within which adjudications and awards shall be made.
(b) At hearings and other proceedings before the
commissioner or before the duly authorized representative of the
commissioner, an employer who is a natural person may appear, and
a claimant may appear, only as follows:
(1) By an attorney duly licensed and admitted to the
practice of law in this state;
(2) By a nonresident attorney duly licensed and admitted to
practice before a court of record of general jurisdiction in
another state or country or in the District of Colombia who has
complied with the provisions of Rule 8.0--Admission Pro Hac Vice,
West Virginia Supreme Court Rules for Admission to the Practice
of Law, as amended; or
(3) Pro se.
(c) At hearings and other proceedings before the
commissioner or before the duly authorized representative of the
commissioner, an employer who is not a natural person may appear
only as follows:
(1) By an attorney duly licensed and admitted to the
practice of law in this state;
(2) By a nonresident attorney duly licensed and admitted topractice before a court of record of general jurisdiction in
another state or country or in the District of Colombia who has
complied with the provisions of Rule 8.0--Admission Pro Hac Vice,
West Virginia Supreme Court Rules for Admission to the Practice
of Law, as amended; or
(3) By a member of the board of directors of a corporation
or by an officer of the corporation, for purposes of representing
the interest of the corporation in the presentation of facts,
figures and factual conclusions as distinguished from the
presentation of legal conclusions in respect to such facts and
figures.
(d) The commissioner or his or her representative may
require an individual appearing on behalf of a natural person or
corporation to produce satisfactory evidence that he or she is
properly qualified to so appear pursuant to this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the
requirement that a corporate employer must be represented by an
attorney in proceedings before the workers' compensation
commissioner.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.