Jeffrey Dean Bledsoe v. City of Dickson-Department of Police

This workers’ compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation
Appeals Panel of the Tennessee Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated
section 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and
conclusions of law. The Plaintiff, a thirty-seven year old police officer, suffers from mild
hypertension, readily controlled by medication. He claims that the stress of his job causes his
hypertension, and relies on the presumption created by Tennessee Code Annotated section
7-51-201(a)(1) to support this claim. The trial court held that this presumption was not rebutted and found that the Plaintiff retained a 3 percent anatomical disability owing to the hypertension. We find that the presumption was sufficiently rebutted, and that the evidence preponderates against a finding that the Employee’s hypertension arose out of his employment. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed.