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Craig v. Gabbert 01A01-9506-CH-00274 Originating Judge:Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr.	Davidson County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
01C01-9512-CC-00412 01C01-9512-CC-00412	Giles County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/13/96
Forbes vs. Wilson Co. Emergency 01A01-9602-CH-00089	Wilson County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
01C01-9507-CC-00235 01C01-9507-CC-00235 Originating Judge:Robert W. Wedemeyer	Montgomery County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/13/96
01C01-9504-CR-00120 01C01-9504-CR-00120 Originating Judge:Thomas H. Shriver	Davidson County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/13/96
02A01-9504-CV-00068 02A01-9504-CV-00068 Originating Judge:James T. Allison	Shelby County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
National Healthcorp, L.P. v. James Puckett 01S01-9510-CV-00187 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 filed this complaint asking the trial court to determine whether the employee sustained any permanent partial disability as a result of an incident at work in which he was in an elevator which fell or sped downward for ten floors. The trial court found that plaintiff sustained a work-related injury resulting in temporary disability but failed to meet his burden of proving permanent impairment and therefore was not entitled to permanent partial disability benefits. The court found that certain court-ordered temporary total disability benefits had been paid beyond the employee's period of temporary disability, and ordered the employee to reimburse the employer $3,826.32 for this overpayment. Further, the court ordered the employer to pay medical expenses for authorized physicians and the employee to pay medical expenses for treatment he secured on his own. An issue raised on briefs as to the characterization of benefits so as to affect Social Security payments was withdrawn by employee's counsel at oral argument and will not be discussed herein. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The employee worked for this employer from 199 until February 1992, when he was involved in an on-the-job accident. On February 19, 1992, while he was in a company elevator, the elevator "fell" or traveled too quickly from the fourteenth to the fourth floor. The employee was tossed about inside the elevator, wrenching his shoulder and neck. The employee was treated by various physicians, some of whom were approved by the employer and some of whom he saw on his own. Dr. Richard Rogers, an orthopedic surgeon, found degenerative changes in plaintiff's cervical spine not caused by trauma. Dr. Arthur Cushman, neurosurgeon provided a second surgical opinion at the court's order and found no permanent impairment. Authoring Judge: Senior Judge John K. Byers Originating Judge:Hon. Robert E. Corlew	Rutherford County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/13/96
01A01-9602-CH-00054 01A01-9602-CH-00054 Originating Judge:Robert S. Brandt	Davidson County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
02A01-9508-CH-00164 02A01-9508-CH-00164 Originating Judge:C. Neal Small	Shelby County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
03S01-9509--CV-00112 03S01-9509--CV-00112		Supreme Court	09/13/96
01C01-9506-CC-00209 01C01-9506-CC-00209 Originating Judge:James K. Clayton, Jr.	Rutherford County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/13/96
Cyril v. Fraser 01C01-9510-CC-00352 Originating Judge:Cornelia A. Clark	Hickman County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/13/96
Vicky Ladd v. Perma-View Processed Glass 01S01-9509-CH-00158 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 back on December 8, 1989 while working for defendant. The trial judge set the weekly benefit rate at $144.67, ordered defendant to pay certain discretionary costs and awarded plaintiff 35 percent permanent vocational disability. We affirm the trial judge's award of 35 percent permanent vocational disability and remand for further hearing on plaintiff's weekly benefit rate and discretionary costs. Plaintiff was injured at work on December 8, 1989 when a crate hit her in the back, resulting in a contusion of her left shoulder and subsequent symptomatic thoracic outlet syndrome and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. She was evaluated and treated by a number of doctors but has continued to have severe pain and other symptoms. Dr. W. D. Hudson saw plaintiff on the date of the accident and diagnosed brachial plexus contusion. When plaintiff continued to have severe pain, Dr. Hudson determined she had reflex sympathetic dystrophy from trauma to the left brachial plexus nerve fiber and referred her for neurosurgical evaluation and for treatment of chronic pain. He thought her permanent partial impairment was probably between twenty and thirty percent. Dr. Andrew Miller, orthopedic surgeon, treated plaintiff at the employer's request. He prescribed physiotherapy, heat, traction and an exercise program, with no improvement in plaintiff's symptoms. Dr. Miller diagnosed cervical degenerative arthritis at C-4 through C-6 and mild bulging disc at C-4/5, which he did not think were related to her work. Dr. John W. Klemin, chiropractor, diagnosed chronic cervicothoracic strain or sprain complicated by rotary scoliosis and vertebral subluxations resulting in thoracic outlet syndrome and thought the prognosis for recovery was guarded. Dr. Arthur Bond, neurosurgeon, evaluated plaintiff on August 8, 1991 and opined that plaintiff's history was compatible with thoracic outlet syndrome 2 Authoring Judge: Per Curiam Originating Judge:Hon. Alex W. Darnell	Montgomery County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/13/96
02A01-9510-CV-00217 02A01-9510-CV-00217 Originating Judge:D'Army Bailey	Shelby County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
James v. Doramus 01A01-9603-CH-00139 Originating Judge:Henry Denmark Bell	Williamson County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
02A01-9507-CH-00154 02A01-9507-CH-00154 Originating Judge:D. J. Alissandratos	Shelby County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
Vicky Ladd v. Perma-View Processed Glass 01S01-9509-CH-00158 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 back on December 8, 1989 while working for defendant. The trial judge set the weekly benefit rate at $144.67, ordered defendant to pay certain discretionary costs and awarded plaintiff 35 percent permanent vocational disability. We affirm the trial judge's award of 35 percent permanent vocational disability and remand for further hearing on plaintiff's weekly benefit rate and discretionary costs. Plaintiff was injured at work on December 8, 1989 when a crate hit her in the back, resulting in a contusion of her left shoulder and subsequent symptomatic thoracic outlet syndrome and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. She was evaluated and treated by a number of doctors but has continued to have severe pain and other symptoms. Dr. W. D. Hudson saw plaintiff on the date of the accident and diagnosed brachial plexus contusion. When plaintiff continued to have severe pain, Dr. Hudson determined she had reflex sympathetic dystrophy from trauma to the left brachial plexus nerve fiber and referred her for neurosurgical evaluation and for treatment of chronic pain. He thought her permanent partial impairment was probably between twenty and thirty percent. Dr. Andrew Miller, orthopedic surgeon, treated plaintiff at the employer's request. He prescribed physiotherapy, heat, traction and an exercise program, with no improvement in plaintiff's symptoms. Dr. Miller diagnosed cervical degenerative arthritis at C-4 through C-6 and mild bulging disc at C-4/5, which he did not think were related to her work. Dr. John W. Klemin, chiropractor, diagnosed chronic cervicothoracic strain or sprain complicated by rotary scoliosis and vertebral subluxations resulting in thoracic outlet syndrome and thought the prognosis for recovery was guarded. Dr. Arthur Bond, neurosurgeon, evaluated plaintiff on August 8, 1991 and opined that plaintiff's history was compatible with thoracic outlet syndrome 2 Authoring Judge: Per Curiam Originating Judge:Hon. Alex W. Darnell	Montgomery County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/13/96
Forbes vs. Wilson Co. Emergency 01A01-9602-CH-00089 Originating Judge:C. K. Smith	Wilson County	Court of Appeals	09/13/96
02A01-9505-CH-00104 02A01-9505-CH-00104		Court of Appeals	09/13/96
01C01-9511-PB-00380 01C01-9511-PB-00380	Davidson County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/13/96
02A01-9504-CV-00095 02A01-9504-CV-00095 Originating Judge:D'Army Bailey	Shelby County	Court of Appeals	09/12/96
02A01-9506-CH-00128 02A01-9506-CH-00128 Originating Judge:George R. Ellis	Gibson County	Court of Appeals	09/12/96
Anthony S. Hopson v. Protein Technologies 02S01-9603-CV-00027 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 Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge Originating Judge:Anthony S. Hopson,	Shelby County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/11/96
02C01-9510-CR-00322 02C01-9510-CR-00322	Shelby County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/11/96
01A01-9602-CV-00078 01A01-9602-CV-00078 Originating Judge:Donald P. Harris	Williamson County	Court of Appeals	09/11/96