Annie Atkins v. Yamakawa Manufacturing Co., Inc.

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 plaintiff filed this suit and alleged she had developed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome in the course and scope of her employment with the defendant. The trial judge found the plaintiff had sustained an anatomical impairment of ten percent to the right wrist and five percent to the left wrist for an average of seven and one half percent to each wrist. The trial judge awarded the plaintiff permanent partial benefits based on a finding of 35 percent vocational disability to each arm, ordering part of the award to be paid in a lump sum. The trial judge also awarded the plaintiff the expense of obtaining the Standard Form Medical Report and deposition of her treating physician as well as the expenses of taking the depositions of two evaluating physicians. The defendant says the plaintiff is not vocationally disabled and therefore not entitled to benefits and expenses. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The plaintiff was age 4 at the time of trial. She is a divorced mother of five children who has a high school degree with no specialized job skills or training. Her work history consists almost entirely of unskilled, hand intensive labor. The plaintiff has worked for the defendant as a machine operator since early 1992. In this capacity, the plaintiff presses buttons of five different machines while continuously loading and unloading parts from the machines and placing completed component parts in a basket at her work station. The evidence of whether the plaintiff has sustained a vocational disability is based upon the testimony of the plaintiff and the depositions of three doctors. The plaintiff testified she began having pain in her hands as early as 1993. She saw a series of doctors about this pain. In May 1996, she selected Dr. Jack M. Miller, whom she saw for examination, treatment, and operation. The plaintiff underwent surgery first on her right hand and later on her left hand, but she testified that she continued to complain to Dr. Miller about the pain and numbness in her 2