Larry Sizemore v. City of Dickson

This workers' compensation appeal from the Dickson County Circuit Court has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated _5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the plaintiff contends the panel should reverse the trial court's grant of summary judgment. We conclude summary judgment to be appropriate and affirm the trial court. The plaintiff, Larry Sizemore, is a policeman for the City of Dickson. He was on vacation for approximately two weeks when he sustained a heart attack while watching television at home on August 15, 1994. The plaintiff filed suit for worker's compensation benefits specifically relying on the statutory presumption of compensability afforded law enforcement personnel in T.C.A. _7-51- 21, which states: ...there shall be and there is hereby established a presumption that any impairment of health of such law enforcement officers caused by hypertension or heart disease resulting in hospitalization, medical treatment or any disability, shall be presumed (unless the contrary is shown by competent medical evidence) to have occurred or to be due to accidental injury suffered in the course of employment.... The defendant answered and denied the plaintiff had sustained a compensable injury. The defendant further filed a motion for summary judgment supported by portions of depositions of the plaintiff and of Dr. Taylor Malone Wray who gave the following testimony: A. My opinion is there is no causal relationship between his work as a police officer and his subsequent heart attack. Q. Do you have an opinion within a reasonable degree of medical certainty as to what did cause his heart attack? A. Well, the heart attack was caused by coronary atherosclerosis, which is a buildup of fatty plaque in the heart arteries. The plaintiff responded with the counter affidavit of Dr. Marshall Crenshaw which states, in part: Mr. Sizemore's coronary artery disease developed in the setting of several risk 2