Pam Fenner v. D.B.C. Enterprises, et al

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 granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants for lack of jurisdiction and dismissed the cause with prejudice at the plaintiff's cost. We affirm the judgment of the trial court on the grounds that Tennessee does not have jurisdiction over this case under the provisions of TENN. CODE ANN. _ 5- 6-115, which governs extraterritorial jurisdiction of the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law. The plaintiff contacted the defendant D.B.C. Enterprises' headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan by telephone in late August 1993 from Camden, Tennessee after she learned of the possibility of employment. She stated in her deposition that at the time she made the initial inquiry, the only contact that she and her husband had with Tennessee was their ongoing attempt to purchase real property. Plaintiff first spoke by telephone to the hiring agent for D.B.C., Pete Carroll, who told her that she would have to travel to Grand Rapids to finalize employment with the company. She was not hired during the course of this initial phone call. By the plaintiff's own admission, her employment was contingent upon passing a physical examination and completing entrance paperwork at the defendant's Grand Rapids headquarters. She was actually hired in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 1, 1993, after taking a physical examination, completing an interview and finalizing the formal paperwork. The affidavit of Victor Mainwaring, D.B.C. Enterprises Safety Director, states that no contract for hire was ever entered between D.B.C. and the plaintiff in Tennessee and that the plaintiff's employment was not principally localized in Tennessee. His affidavit further states that [D.B.C.] Enterprises does not run, operate, or own a terminal in Tennessee and that driver trip data sheets completed by the plaintiff and her husband indicate that at no time did the plaintiff deliver, pick up, load or unload anything in the State of Tennessee. Plaintiff alleges that on October 22, 1993, she was injured in Gallup, New Mexico while enroute from California carrying cargo for the defendant. Under Tennessee law, a court may assume jurisdiction of a workers' compensation action