Have you ever heard of the expression: “I was sandbagged”? This sandbagging prompted the 10 day rule. Lawyers practicing in the workers' compensation courts would obtain medical records or written medical opinions that would be totally unfavorable to the worker and introduce it at the hearing, not giving the worker's lawyer a chance to rebut or refute it. This sounds incredible but this was happening for years. The judge would many times give the side who was “sandbagged” 30 days to get other evidence to the contrary. Then that newer evidence would produce further delays. So the 10 day rule was established. Now, if I introduce a dynamic opinion letter less than 10 days before the hearing, the insurance lawyer can ask the Judge who will hear the case to strike the letter, disallow its introduction or they could be allowed to file a motion to buy more time to get his/her own medical narrative to refute mine.
The 10 day rule has cleared up a lot of “funny” play just before the hearing.