Darla Holt v. National Union Fire Ins. Co.

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with TENN. CODE ANN. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court awarded plaintiff 3% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole. Defendant challenges the permanency of the injury and the methodology used by the trial judge to reach his finding. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. Plaintiff, 28, has a GED and has been trained as a certified nursing technician. Most of her work experience has been in this area. She was involved in a car accident in 1988 which eventually led to a total right hip replacement in July 1992 due to avascular necrosis. Plaintiff injured her back lifting a patient on November 7, 1993. Plaintiff was treated by Dr. Boyd D. Matthews, a chiropractor, who testified in this case by deposition. He opined that plaintiff had central disc protrusions at L4- L5 and L5-S1 based upon his examination, plaintiff's complaints and the results of various imaging studies. He assigned plaintiff a permanent impairment rating of 33% to the body as a whole. He arrived at this impairment rating by rating various impairment factors and compiling them under the AMA Guides. Dr. Robert H. Haralson, III, an orthopedic surgeon, examined the plaintiff at the request of the defendant and testified by deposition. He opined that, although plaintiff certainly had a back injury, she did not retain any permanent impairment. He acknowledged that plaintiff had protruding discs at L4 and L5; however, he opined that they did not impinge on plaintiff's nerves and that they pre- existed her back injury, based on his review of CT scans taken before and after the work- related injury. The trial judge discredited the testimony of Dr. Boyd D. Matthews. With Dr. Matthew's testimony discredited, there was no medical testimony upon which to base a medical impairment finding. The trial judge, in his ruling, found, based upon 2