To object to an independent medical examination in California, you must serve a written response within 20 days of the defense’s demand, and that response has to identify a specific legal defect in the demand rather than a general reluctance to attend. Miss the 20-day window and you waive every objection you had. Meet it with a well-grounded response and you can force the defense either to narrow the exam, replace the doctor, move the location, or take the fight to a judge.
The 20-Day Clock Is the Whole Ballgame
Once the defense serves a demand for a physical examination, you have 20 days to serve a written response. That response has to do one of three things: agree to the exam as demanded, agree with specific modifications, or refuse and state the legal reasons why.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.230 – Response of Plaintiff to Demand
If you let the 20 days lapse without responding, you waive every objection. The court can undo that waiver, but only if you later serve a response that substantially complies with the rules and can show the missed deadline resulted from mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.240 That is a hard showing to make after the fact. Treat the deadline as fixed. Either side can move to shorten or extend it, but the motion has to be filed before the clock runs out.
Grounds That Actually Work
General discomfort with seeing the defense’s doctor is not a legal objection. What works is a defect in the demand measured against what the statute allows. The defense gets one physical examination as a matter of right, and only if two conditions are satisfied: no diagnostic test that is painful, protracted, or intrusive, and a location within 75 miles of your home.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.220 – Physical Examination of Personal Injury Plaintiff Anything beyond those limits requires a court order and a showing of good cause.
Travel Beyond 75 Miles
If the demand names a doctor farther than 75 miles from your home, the defense cannot get there by demand alone. They have to ask the court, show good cause, and advance your reasonable travel expenses.4California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.320 A demand that ignores the 75-mile cap and says nothing about covering travel is objectionable on its face.
Painful, Prolonged, or Intrusive Procedures
The exam that comes by demand cannot include any diagnostic test that is painful, protracted, or intrusive.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.220 – Physical Examination of Personal Injury Plaintiff If the demand calls for nerve conduction studies, invasive imaging, or anything past a standard physical assessment, it exceeds what the defense can require without a motion showing good cause for that specific procedure.4California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.320
Improper Scope
The demand has to specify the scope and nature of the examination, and it must be tied to the injuries actually in controversy.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.220 – Physical Examination of Personal Injury Plaintiff If you injured your back in a car accident and the demand calls for a full psychiatric evaluation, the scope is objectionable. The right move is to identify the parts of the demand that reach beyond what is in controversy and propose narrower terms.
An Examiner Whose Specialty Does Not Fit
The demand must identify the doctor’s specialty. Where the specialty does not match the condition at issue — a general orthopedist selected for a traumatic brain injury claim, for instance — you have a real objection, and you can counter-propose a doctor whose training aligns with your injuries.
A Second Examination
Only the first physical examination comes by demand. Any further exam requires a court order supported by good cause.4California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.320 A demand for a repeat exam without a meaningful change in your condition or new injuries being claimed can be refused, and courts tend to look skeptically at requests that appear designed to wear a plaintiff down.
Writing the Response
The written response is not a letter. It is a formal discovery response that answers the demand paragraph by paragraph. For each objectionable element, you refuse and state the reason: the distance exceeds 75 miles, the listed test is intrusive, the scope reaches conditions not in controversy, the examiner’s specialty does not match the injuries. Where you can, pair the objection with a proposed alternative, because the response can agree to the exam with specific modifications.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.230 – Response of Plaintiff to Demand Offering a workable substitute — a different location within 75 miles, a doctor with the right specialty, a narrower scope — makes your position look reasonable if the dispute goes to a judge.
Meet and Confer Before Anyone Files
California requires the parties to try to resolve discovery disputes informally before filing a motion. Whichever side ultimately files must attach a declaration confirming a good-faith attempt to work things out in person, by telephone, or by video.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2016.040
In practice, this means your attorney writes to defense counsel setting out the specific defects in the demand and the modifications you would accept. The defense either agrees, counters, or refuses. Keep everything in writing and save it. Judges read this correspondence carefully, and a party who refused to budge on anything reasonable often pays for that at the hearing.
If the Dispute Goes to a Judge
When informal talks fail, one side has to file. Which one depends on where the fight sits.
The Defense Moves to Compel
If you refused the exam or proposed changes the defense will not accept, the defense can file a motion to compel, with a meet-and-confer declaration attached.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.250 If the judge grants the motion and you still refuse, the sanctions ladder is severe: the court can treat disputed facts as established against you, bar you from introducing certain evidence, or dismiss the case.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.240
You Move for a Protective Order
If the demand contains conditions you cannot live with, or the defense has obtained a court order with terms that go too far, you can move for a protective order. The filing includes a notice of motion with a hearing date, a memorandum explaining why the exam should be blocked or modified, and a sworn declaration from your attorney describing the dispute and attaching the demand plus the meet-and-confer correspondence. The papers must be formally served on defense counsel.
What the Judge Can Do
At the hearing the judge can grant your motion and block or modify the exam, deny it and order you to attend as demanded, or split the difference by allowing the exam with a closer location, a different doctor, or specific procedures removed. Whatever the judge orders becomes binding.
There is a cost side to know before you file. The losing party on any of these motions generally pays the winner’s reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees; the court must impose monetary sanctions unless the losing side acted with substantial justification or a sanction would be unjust.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.250 A weak objection can cost you money. An overreaching demand can cost the defense money.
What Happens If You Just Refuse
Objecting strategically and ignoring a valid demand are two different things. Fail to respond within 20 days and you waive your objections. Refuse to attend after a court has ordered you to, and the sanctions escalate:2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.240
- Monetary sanctions covering the defense’s reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees caused by the refusal.
- Issue sanctions, meaning the court treats certain disputed facts as established in the defense’s favor.
- Evidence sanctions, barring you from introducing specific evidence to support your claims.
- Terminating sanctions, which can dismiss part or all of your lawsuit or enter judgment against you.
Terminating sanctions are a last resort, and courts typically work through lesser sanctions first.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2023.030 The practical rule: if you have a valid objection, raise it inside the 20-day window and follow the statutory procedure. If the court rules against you, attend.
If You End Up Attending the Exam
Losing an objection is not the end of your protections. Your attorney or a designated representative can attend and observe the entire physical examination and can record every word spoken to or by you during the exam by stenographic transcript or audio.8California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.510 – Conduct of Examination Afterward, you can demand the examiner’s full written report, which the defense must deliver within 30 days of your demand or 15 days before trial, whichever comes first.9California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 2032.610 These rights matter, but they do not substitute for objecting on time when the demand itself is defective.