Johnson v. Goodwill 03S01-9610-CV-00101
Authoring Judge: Roger E. Thayer, Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. James B. Scott, Jr.
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 appeal has resulted from the action of the trial court in dismissing the employee's claim for benefits. The Circuit Judge found plaintiff had failed to establish her injury was caused by an accident which arose out of and in the course of her employment. The sole issue on appeal is whether the evidence preponderates against the conclusion of the trial court. Plaintiff, Joy G. Johnson, testified on October 2, 1993, she stepped into a drainage hole while performing her work-related duties. She reported the incident to several management representatives and signed an accident report which indicated she did not receive any treatment for an injury. She did not miss any work and did not see a doctor until July 1994. Her family doctor then referred her to Dr. Gregory M. Mathien, an orthopedic surgeon. She saw Dr. Mathien on September 15, 1994, which was almost a year after the incident at work. In giving a history, she said she fell about a year earlier and had a second fall about eight months earlier. She never indicated either fall occurred at work. Dr. Mathien's testimony was by deposition and his diagnosis was a torn meniscus with secondary tendinitis. He said the articular cartilage lesion was not work-related but was due to the degenerative process. As to the torn meniscus, he testified causation was hard to say; she only told him she had pain about two and one-half months prior to seeing him, and he could not determine which fall caused the problem or if either event was the cause. Dr. Mathien performed surgery and continued to see her saying the result was not as good as expected. He did not assess any medical impairment as he had no reason to do so. The record indicates plaintiff incurred substantial medical expenses and all bills were submitted to her husband's medical insurance carrier. No medical expenses were ever submitted to defendant employer. She also admitted she never 2
Johnson
Workers Compensation Panel
Stone Container Corporation v. Neil Griffith 03S01-9609-CV-00094
Authoring Judge: Roger E. Thayer, Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. William L. Brown,
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 employer, Stone Container Corporation, has perfected this appeal from a decision of the trial court to award the employee, Neil Griffith, 1% permanent partial disability benefits to the body as a whole. Temporary total disability benefits were paid until the employee returned to work during January, 1995, and the payment of medical expenses is also not an issue. The employer insists the evidence preponderates against a finding of permanent injury or disability. The short record contains the oral testimony of the employee, and the depositions of three orthopedic surgeons. Employee Griffith had worked for Stone Container Corporation for about twenty-five years when he sustained a work-related injury on November 28, 1994. On this day he was reaching down to pick up a heavy pallet when he felt pain across the top of his shoulder. The next morning he had pain in his left arm and was hospitalized a few days to determine if he was having or had a heart attack. Testing for this condition was negative and he was released. He first came under the care of Dr. Lester F. Littell III, who was one of the three designated physicians of the employer. He found he had sustained a work- related injury but was of the opinion it would eventually clear up. He found no permanent impairment and did not place any restrictions on the patient. Becoming dissatisfied with Dr. Littell, employee Griffith requested the company to furnish another physician for a second opinion. He was then seen by Dr. Neil H. Spitalny who found mild disc bulging at several levels as reported on a MRI report and said this was consistent with normal degenerative aging process of the cervical spine and discs. He was of the opinion there was no medical impairment. We do note his testimony indicates he saw him again on January 22, 1996, when he was still complaining of left shoulder pain and discomfort in the neck musculature. 2
Knox
Workers Compensation Panel
Blanken v. Philips 03S01-9607-CV-00081
Authoring Judge: Senior Judge John K. Byers
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. Plaintiff injured her left arm at work on February 28, 1992. W hen surgery did not improve the condition or decrease her pain she became markedly depressed. The trial court found that plaintiff's depression was related to her arm injury and awarded her 1 percent permanent total disability based on the two conditions. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. Plaintiff injured her left arm gradually at work in February, March and April of 1992. She was left hand dominant and her work required that she use a staple gun repetitively. Dr. Joseph C. DeFiore, Jr., orthopedic surgeon, treated her left elbow and shoulder from April 13, 1992 through January 24, 1994. When Dr. DeFiore first saw plaintiff, he found tenderness over the left lateral epicondyle area and in her left shoulder, with no specific abnormalities on x- ray. He diagnosed tendinitis of the left shoulder and lateral epicondylitis, or tennis elbow. Plaintiff also reported being extremely depressed, primarily because of the elbow problem. A work-related low back injury contributed to her depression, but we do not consider that injury, which was non-suited at trial. Dr. DeFiore advised plaintiff to avoid use of a staple gun at work, which he thought was causing some of her irritation, gave her a TENS unit for pain control and prescribed exercises. Plaintiff returned to work with the limitation that she do only nonrepetitive, non-overuse work with the left upper extremity. The work she was assigned, though much less harmful according to Dr. DeFiore, still required her to constantly reach with her left hand and arm in order to spray television cabinets with an air pressure gun. Plaintiff continued to have pain in the elbow and therefore had cortisone injections on three occasions, with no improvement. Bone scan found arthritis in the shoulder joint. Plaintiff was deposed by defendant on October 19, 1992, and it was apparently here that both parties' counsel learned from plaintiff about antidepressant medications given to her by her family physician on a continuing basis since her first 2
02A01-9604-CV-00073 02A01-9604-CV-00073
Trial Court Judge: James E. Swearengen
Shelby
Court of Appeals
02A01-9609-CH-00226 02A01-9609-CH-00226
Trial Court Judge: William Michael Maloan
Obion
Court of Appeals
Leming vs. State 03C01-9603-CC-00119
Trial Court Judge: Thomas W. Graham
Bledsoe
Court of Criminal Appeals
Charlotte Freeman v. Cpq Colorchrome, Inc. 03S01-9608-Ch-00089
Authoring Judge: Senior Judge John K. Byers
Trial Court Judge: EARL H. HENLEY, Chancellor
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. While lifting a machine at work, plaintiff heard or felt a "pop" in her neck and experienced a slight tingling in her hands. Because she felt little or no pain at that time, she did not immediately suspect that the "pop" and the tingling might be symptomatic of serious injury. When she developed pain in the neck a few days later after sleeping on the arm, she sought medical care and found that she had herniated two cervical disks. The trial court found the plaintiff had proved that her neck injury was caused by her work and awarded her 4 percent permanent partial disability to the body as a whole. The defendant appeals, insisting that plaintiff has not met her burden of proving that her work caused injury. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. Plaintiff, 46 years old with a G.E.D. diploma, began working for defendant's predecessor in 1986. While refinishing photo negatives on February 15, 1994, she lifted a 29-pound machine and felt or heard a "pop" in her neck and a slight tingling in her right arm. She didn't have much, if any, pain, and didn't think much about it. Plaintiff went to the work site within the next three days and, in conversation with her supervisor and two other employees, said that she thought her injury was caused by lifting the machine at work. The supervisor, Kathy Quintard, who was in- and-out of the room during this conversation, thought this was only "chit-chat" among friends. Although she heard plaintiff discuss the injury, she did not consider this to be her official notice of work-related injury, and so Ms. Quintard did not make a report of it. The evidence indicates Ms. Quintard thought that unless plaintiff came to her office and made an "official" statement, she would not be entitled to workers' compensation coverage. On February 17, 1994, plaintiff awoke with arm pain after having slept on the arm. She went to an emergency clinic that day and again on February 2, 1994, 2
