which must be decided in the Superior Court. (Ins. Code, §11580.2 (f)(2).) A party attempting to compel discovery near the arbitration date will be under signifi- cant pressure to obtain a hearing date in the Superior Court prior to the arbitration date. This is particularly true when the Superior Court was not previously assigned to the case by a Petition to Compel arbitra- tion at the outset. A moving party must incur the expense and labor of filing an initial appearance document in order for a Superior Court judge to schedule and hear a discovery dispute. The third odd exception is that there
are peculiar rules concerning wage loss information, medical authorizations and defense medical examinations in prepara- tion for UM/UIM arbitrations. (Ins. Code, § 11580.2(o).) These rules are substantially different that the “normal” discovery rules contained in the Code of Civil Procedure.
According to Insurance Code section 11580.2(o), an insured must provide wage loss information and medical authoriza- tions within 15 days of such request by an insurer. If the insured fails to provide that information and it is not within 30 days prior to the arbitration, the insurer can again request that information. This time the insured has 10 days to provide the information. If the insured fails to provide the information upon this second request, the arbitration shall be stayed at least 30 days following compliance by the insured. An insured would be well advised to have wage-loss information and medical authori- zations ready to go if it cannot be served with the demand for arbitration. An insured must also submit to a med-
ical examination within 20 days after the insurer’s request. If the insured fails to sub- mit to a medical examination and it is not within 30 days prior to the arbitration, the
insurer can again request that the insured submit to a medical examination. This time, if the insured does not submit to a medical examination within 20 days, the arbitration shall be stayed at least 30 days following compliance by the insured. Again, an insured would be well advised to submit to the examination when scheduled. The “strange” circumstance presented
is that an insurer often has difficulty obtaining an examination date with its cho- sen examiner within those 20 days. It is unclear what would occur if the examina- tion is unilaterally demanded more than 20 days in advance. An insurer would be well advised to demand a medical examination early in the process to both secure an examination date and to ensure that the examination will take place before the dis- covery cut-off. At a minimum, the examina- tion should be set within with both the ini- tial 20 days and the subsequent 20 days.
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