Larry Coleman v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation 02S01-9602-CV-00021
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Kay S. Robilio,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employer contends the award of permanent partial disability benefits is excessive and that the trial judge "erred in failing to use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fourth Edition, to review the anatomical impairment assigned by" the operating surgeon. The employee contends the award is inadequate. The panel has concluded the judgment should be affirmed as modified herein. The employee or claimant, Larry Coleman, is 52 and a high school graduate with no other training or education. He has worked all his adult life as an unskilled worker. On November 17, 1992, the fork lift which he was operating for the employer fell out of a truck bed to a parking lot, injuring him. He was treated and released at an emergency room and returned to work with pain. He ultimately was referred to a neurosurgeon, whom he first saw on January 26, 1993. The doctor diagnosed a herniated lumbar disc and prescribed an epidural block for the relief of pain. When conservative care no longer relieved the claimant's pain, surgery was performed. Since the surgery, he has continued to have disabling leg and back pain and numbness. The operation was the claimant's second for a ruptured disc in the low back, the other having occurred some seventeen years earlier. The claimant cannot sit or stand for long periods of time and has severely limited ability to bend forward. The operating surgeon assigned a permanent impairment rating of eighteen percent to the whole body, from the injury and surgery superimposed on his pre-existing spinal stenosis, using the AMA guidelines. Mr. Coleman does not think he can return to any kind of work. He has not worked since the surgery. A vocational expert examined the claimant and his medical records. The expert opined that the claimant has no transferable job skills and that he has no employability. The expert's opinion is based in part, however, on a hip problem which is not shown to have pre-existed the injury at work or to have been caused by the injury at work. We find no countervailing medical or vocational testimony in the record. The trial judge found the claimant's permanent industrial disability to be eighty-eight percent to the body as a whole and awarded benefits on that basis. Appellate review is de novo upon the record of the trial court, 2
Shelby
Workers Compensation Panel
Larry Coleman v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation 02S01-9602-CV-00021
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Kay S. Robilio,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employer contends the award of permanent partial disability benefits is excessive and that the trial judge "erred in failing to use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fourth Edition, to review the anatomical impairment assigned by" the operating surgeon. The employee contends the award is inadequate. The panel has concluded the judgment should be affirmed as modified herein. The employee or claimant, Larry Coleman, is 52 and a high school graduate with no other training or education. He has worked all his adult life as an unskilled worker. On November 17, 1992, the fork lift which he was operating for the employer fell out of a truck bed to a parking lot, injuring him. He was treated and released at an emergency room and returned to work with pain. He ultimately was referred to a neurosurgeon, whom he first saw on January 26, 1993. The doctor diagnosed a herniated lumbar disc and prescribed an epidural block for the relief of pain. When conservative care no longer relieved the claimant's pain, surgery was performed. Since the surgery, he has continued to have disabling leg and back pain and numbness. The operation was the claimant's second for a ruptured disc in the low back, the other having occurred some seventeen years earlier. The claimant cannot sit or stand for long periods of time and has severely limited ability to bend forward. The operating surgeon assigned a permanent impairment rating of eighteen percent to the whole body, from the injury and surgery superimposed on his pre-existing spinal stenosis, using the AMA guidelines. Mr. Coleman does not think he can return to any kind of work. He has not worked since the surgery. A vocational expert examined the claimant and his medical records. The expert opined that the claimant has no transferable job skills and that he has no employability. The expert's opinion is based in part, however, on a hip problem which is not shown to have pre-existed the injury at work or to have been caused by the injury at work. We find no countervailing medical or vocational testimony in the record. The trial judge found the claimant's permanent industrial disability to be eighty-eight percent to the body as a whole and awarded benefits on that basis. Appellate review is de novo upon the record of the trial court, 2
Shelby
Workers Compensation Panel
Anthony S. Hopson v. Protein Technologies 02S01-9603-CV-00027
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Anthony S. Hopson,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employer contends only that the award of permanent partial disability benefits on the basis of fifty percent to the arm is excessive. The panels finds the award should be reduced to one based on thirty-five percent to the arm. The employee or claimant, Hopson, is forty-three with a high school education, one year of college and three years of military service as an aviation ordinance mechanic. On April 14, 1994, while working for Protein Technologies, he injured his left arm lifting a product weighing forty-four pounds. His doctor diagnosed lateral epicondylitis and acute olecranon bursitis, and prescribed injections, medication and physical therapy. The claimant reached maximum medical improvement on August 1, 1994, when the doctor assessed his permanent impairment at five percent to the left arm and released him to return to work with a weight lifting restriction of twenty pounds. The claimant first returned to light duty, then to a position earning as much as or more than before the injury. The trial judge awarded, among other things, permanent partial disability benefits based on fifty percent to the arm. Appellate review is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of correctness of the findings of fact, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(2). Once the causation and permanency of an injury have been established by expert testimony,the courts may consider many pertinent factors, including age, job skills, education, training, duration of disability, and job opportunities for the disabled, in addition to anatomical impairment, for the purpose of evaluating the extent of a claimant's permanent disability. Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-241(a)(2); McCaleb v. Saturn Corp., 91 S.W.2d 412 (Tenn. 1995). From a consideration of the pertinent factors established by the proof in this case, the panel finds that the evidence preponderates against an award based on fifty percent to the arm and in favor of one based on thirty- five percent to the arm. The judgment of the trial court is modified accordingly, but otherwise affirmed. Costs on appeal are taxed to the plaintiff-appellee. 2
Shelby
Workers Compensation Panel
Anthony S. Hopson v. Protein Technologies 02S01-9603-CV-00027
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Anthony S. Hopson,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employer contends only that the award of permanent partial disability benefits on the basis of fifty percent to the arm is excessive. The panels finds the award should be reduced to one based on thirty-five percent to the arm. The employee or claimant, Hopson, is forty-three with a high school education, one year of college and three years of military service as an aviation ordinance mechanic. On April 14, 1994, while working for Protein Technologies, he injured his left arm lifting a product weighing forty-four pounds. His doctor diagnosed lateral epicondylitis and acute olecranon bursitis, and prescribed injections, medication and physical therapy. The claimant reached maximum medical improvement on August 1, 1994, when the doctor assessed his permanent impairment at five percent to the left arm and released him to return to work with a weight lifting restriction of twenty pounds. The claimant first returned to light duty, then to a position earning as much as or more than before the injury. The trial judge awarded, among other things, permanent partial disability benefits based on fifty percent to the arm. Appellate review is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of correctness of the findings of fact, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(2). Once the causation and permanency of an injury have been established by expert testimony,the courts may consider many pertinent factors, including age, job skills, education, training, duration of disability, and job opportunities for the disabled, in addition to anatomical impairment, for the purpose of evaluating the extent of a claimant's permanent disability. Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-241(a)(2); McCaleb v. Saturn Corp., 91 S.W.2d 412 (Tenn. 1995). From a consideration of the pertinent factors established by the proof in this case, the panel finds that the evidence preponderates against an award based on fifty percent to the arm and in favor of one based on thirty- five percent to the arm. The judgment of the trial court is modified accordingly, but otherwise affirmed. Costs on appeal are taxed to the plaintiff-appellee. 2
Shelby
Workers Compensation Panel
02A01-9504-CH-00080 02A01-9504-CH-00080
Trial Court Judge: D. J. Alissandratos
