Danny E. Ray v. The Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company

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. I The plaintiff seeks an enlargement of a prior award for workers' compensation benefits, as allegedly provided by T.C.A. _ 5-6-241(a)(2). The defendant's motion for summary judgment was granted. Appeal from a summary judgment order in a workers' compensation case is not controlled by the de novo standard of review, but is governed by Rule 56, Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Downen v. Allstate Ins. Co., 811 S.W.2d 523 (Tenn. 1991). Further, no presumption of correctness attaches to decisions granting summary judgment because they involve only questions of law; thus on appeal the reviewing court must make a fresh determination concerning whether the requirements of Rule 56 have been met. Gonzales v. Alman Constr. Co., 857 S.W.2d 42 (Tenn. 1993). II The petitioner suffered a sprained shoulder on November 11, 1994, during the course of his employment by Kantus Corporation. He sustained a seven percent permanent partial impairment as a result of the accident and returned to work after recuperation. His claim for benefits for partial permanent whole body disability was settled on the basis of 17.5 percent, or seventy weeks, arrived at by multiplying his anatomical impairment by 2.5, as directed by T.C.A. _ 5-6-241(a)(1). The settlement was approved on June 3, 1995, upon the joint petition of Kantus Corporation and its insurer, The Yasuda Fire 2