Washington Supreme Court Extends Corporate Privilege to Non-Employee Contractors

More than thirty years ago, the Washington Supreme Court ruled defense counsel may not engage in ex parte communications with a plaintiff’s treating physician. Loudon v. Mhyre, 110 Wn.2d 675, 676 (1988). The Loudon rule, as it’s known, was revisited and tempered slightly in Youngs v. PeaceHealth, when the court held defendant hospitals may have ex parte communications with employee-physicians who treated a plaintiff, as long as the communications “are limited to the facts of the alleged...
By: Perkins Coie

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