Barry L. Blackwell v. Madison County Sheriff's Dept.

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Worker's Compensation Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated _ 5-6-225(e) for a hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. This case arises out of heart problems suffered by a sheriff's deputy. The trial court found that the plaintiff was entitled to the statutory presumption in Tennessee Code Annotated _ 7-5-21(a)(1) allowing the court to presume that a law enforcement officer's heart problems are work-related. The trial court found that the plaintiff suffered a 3 percent permanent partial disability to the body as a whole from this injury. Further, the trial court found that a bomb scare on June 3, 1996, was a precipitating factor that caused the plaintiff's problems. The defendant appeals the decision of the trial court, alleging that the court erred in finding that the plaintiff was entitled to the statutory presumption of causation. The plaintiff argues that the trial court correctly found that the presumption applies. He further argues that, even without the presumption, the preponderance of the evidence establishes that the plaintiff's injury arose out of and in the course of his employment with the defendant. Review of the findings of fact made by the trial court is de novo upon the record, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the findings, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e)(2); Stone v. City of McMinnville, 896 S.W.2d 548, 55 (Tenn. 1995). The application of this standard requires this Court to weigh in depth the factual findings and conclusions of the trial court in a workers' compensation case. See Corcoran v. Foster Auto GMC, Inc., 746 S.W.2d 452, 456 (Tenn. 1988). However, considerable deference must be given the trial court, who has seen and heard the witnesses, especially where issues of credibility and weight of oral testimony are involved. Jones v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 811 S.W.2d 516, 521 (Tenn. 1991). After a review of the entire record, briefs of the parties and applicable law, we REVERSE the trial court's judgment.