Chester Gray Thompson v. Nashville Electric Service

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. In this appeal, the employer insists (1) the award of permanent partial disability benefits based on 37.5 percent to the body as a whole is excessive, (2) the trial court erred in finding that the employee suffered a back injury "in the scope and course of the employment," and (3) the trial court erred in commuting the award to a lump sum. The employee questions the admissibility of the treating physician's records because the records were neither admitted through a medical records custodian nor the deposition of the treating physician, and no C-32 form was submitted. As discussed below, the panel has concluded that any error in the admission of the medical records was harmless. We therefore affirm the judgment. Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e) (21 Supp.) Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed JOE C. LOSER, JR., SP. J., in which JANICE M. HOLDER, J., and JAMES L. WEATHERFORD, SR. J., joined. Mark A. Baugh and Eugene Ward, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Nashville Electric Service E. Guy Holliman and William Joseph Butler, Lafayette, Tennessee, for the appellee, Chester Thompson MEMORANDUM OPINION The employee or claimant, Mr. Thompson, initiated this civil action to recover workers' compensation benefits for injuries to his back and ankle allegedly resulting from a fall during a training exercise authorized by the employer, Nashville Electric Service. The trial court awarded permanent partial disability benefits based on 37.5 percent to the body as a whole and 5 percent to his ankle.1 Both parties have appealed. 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. _ 5-6-225(e)(2) (21 Supp.). The reviewing court is required to conduct an independent examination of the record to determine where the preponderance of the evidence lies.