Ralph D. West v. Sonic Drive-In and Anco Interstate Insurance Company 01S01-9603-CH-00054
Authoring Judge: William H. Inman, Senior Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. C.K. Smith,
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 alleged that he injured his back on November 27, 1991 while employed as a cook. He sought medical treatment about one month later and in course was referred to Dr. Fonda Bondurant, an orthopedic surgeon in Lebanon, Tennessee, who performed a hemilaminectomy and discectomy on January 27, 1992. The surgery was successful, and the plaintiff was released to return to work on March 31, 1992. Utilizing the AMA Guidelines, Dr. Bondurant gave the plaintiff an impairment rating of eight percent "strictly because he had surgical intervention performed." This case has been twice tried. The first trial was held on April 19, 1993 and ended with a non-suit after the plaintiff and his wife testified. The second trial was held on October 4, 1994 resulting in a finding that the plaintiff had a 32 percent vocational impairment. The defendant appeals and presents for review the issues of notice, occurrence, injury and disability. An issue involving the admission of certain Social Security records is also presented. Our review is de novo on the record, accompanied with the presumption that the findings of fact of the trial court are correct unless the evidence otherwise preponderates. T.C.A. _ 5-6-225(e)(2). At the outset, we are constrained to observe that this 38-year-old man has testified three times; once upon discovery and twice in open court. His testimony is inconsistent and obviously underwent considerable fine-tuning during the interim between trials. The Chancellor expressed his dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the case, but in the end resolved the issues of notice and injury favorably to the plaintiff, chiefly because a reputable orthopedic surgeon took a history from the plaintiff two months after the injury and performed major corrective surgery on him. In any event the Chancellor is the best judge of the credibility of the plaintiff and we 2
Smith
Workers Compensation Panel
Shirley Diane Trail v. Royal Insurance Company and Ckr Industries, Inc., 01SO1-9505-CH-00071
Authoring Judge: Robert L. Childers, Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Jeffrey F. Stewart
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. Our review is de novo on the record accompanied by the presumption that the findings of fact of the trial court are correct unless the evidence preponderates otherwise. TENN. CODE ANN. _ 5-6-225(e)(2). The trial court awarded Ms. Trail $19,421. permanent partial disability benefits, representing one-hundreed (1) weeks at the benefit rate of $194.21 per week, or twenty-five percent (25%) to the body as a whole; and future medical benefits pursuant to the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Act. The trial court also allowed attorneys fees of twenty percent (2%) of the award, in the amount of $3,884.2, to be paid in a lump sum. The Appellant contends that the trial court erred in: 1. Finding that a vocational disability based upon a permanent medical restriction, with medical testimony of no medical impairment rating in accordance with the A.M.A. Guidelines for Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, constitutes a compensable permanent partial disability under the Workers' Compensation Act. 2. Awarding permanent partial disability benefits to the Plaintiff that were excessive and against the weight of the evidence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. Ms. Trail filed her complaint in the Chancery Court for Franklin County, Tennessee, against her employer, Defendant CKR Industries, seeking to recover unpaid benefits under the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Act for work-related injuries. Ms. Trail alleged that she suffered injuries as a result of exposure to chemicals in use at the CKR Plant. The case was consolidated with three (3) other cases for trial due to significant similarities in the cases. The opinion of the Court on the first issue is contained in the case of Angela K. Hill v. Royal Insurance Company and CKR Industries, Inc., No. 1S1-955-CH-71, filed simultaneously with this opinion. The Court held that the trial court did not err in finding that a vocational disability existed based upon the testimony of the medical experts that a permanent medical restriction existed which constitutes a permanent partial disability under the Worker's Compensation Act, even though no medical impairment rating was given by any of the
Thomas H. Hartley v. Snap-On Tools Corporation 03S01-9603-CH-00019
Authoring Judge: William H. Inman, Senior Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. G. Richard Johnson,
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 issue presented is whether the trial court erred in finding that the plaintiff sustained a 35 percent disability to his right arm as a result of a job-related accident. The standard of review is de novo on the record accompanied with the presumption that the judgment is correct unless the evidence otherwise preponderates. TENN. R. APP. P. 13(d); T.C.A. _ 5-6-225(e)(2). The parties stipulated that the "plaintiff had incurred work-related bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome." The finding of disability to the left arm is not contested on appeal; the defendant argues that a finding of 35 percent to the right arm is excessive. The treating physician, Dr. Gorman, testified that the plaintiff's right arm was asymptomatic following corrective surgery and without impairment. Dr. Eric Roberts was employed by the plaintiff's attorney to examine and evaluate the plaintiff. He is a board-certified physical medicine specialist. He testified that he performed extensive testing of the plaintiff, reviewed the voluminous medical reports and believed that the plaintiff had a 2 percent impairment to his right arm, based on AMA Guidelines. The deposition of Dr. Roberts is unusually lengthy, and we have considered it in depth. Henson v. City of Lawenceburg, 851 S.W.2d 89, 812 (Tenn. 1993). The plaintiff apparently had some non-job-related problems with his right elbow which are not fully recounted in the record. The defendant argues that most, if not all, of any impairment to the plaintiff's right arm is attributable to these problems of which both experts were aware and considered. While we are able to asses the weight of testoimony by deposition as well as the trial judge, It is not within our province to substitute our judgment for that of the trial judge; and we cannot find that the evidence preponderates against his finding that the plaintiff sustained a 35
