Trial Court Addresses Parameters for Completion of IME of a Plaintiff Who Resides Out of State

By Daniel Cummins on March 5, 2025

In the case of Seifert v. Whitfield, [Docket Number Not Provided in Decision] (C.P. Chester Co. May 16, 2024 Binder, J.), the court addressed a Defendant’s Motion to Compel a Plaintiff, who was a resident of Florida, to attend an independent medical examination to be performed by a physician located in Pennsylvania. The parties disputed whether the Defendant should bear the costs related to the travel to complete the IME.

The court noted that Pa. R.C.P. 4010 permits a party to require another party to attend an IME under appropriate circumstances. The Rule, however, is silent as to which party bears the cost related to traveling for an IME.

Relying upon case law from other similar situations, the court in this case ordered that the Defendants could require a Plaintiff to attend an IME within one hundred (100) miles of her own residence without having to pay the Plaintiff’s costs related thereto.

The court found that the Defendant could also elect to require the Plaintiff to attend an IME in Pennsylvania, in which case, the Defendants would have to pay for the Plaintiff’s reasonable costs for flights, lodging and ground transportation.

The court also noted that the Defendants could require the Plaintiff to attend an IME in Pennsylvania on the day before trial, or on a day that the Plaintiff is visiting Pennsylvania, in which case, the Defendants would not have to pay for the Plaintiff’s cost related to attending the IME.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.

Source: The Legal Intelligencer Common Pleas Case Alert, www.Law.com (Feb. 13, 2025).

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