Paula Stallings v. Taco Bell Corporation

This workers’ compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this case, the employee slipped and fell at work injuring her right arm. The employee’s medical expert testified she had developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) in her right arm as a result of her on-the-job injury.  The trial court found that she was “permanently disabled to the extent of 100% to the body as a whole.” The employer contends that the trial court erred: 1) in finding that the employee developed RSD from the fall; and 2) in awarding benefits to the body as a whole instead of to the arm, a scheduled member. The employee contends that the judgment should be modified to find that the she sustained permanent and total disability as a result of her injuries. For the reasons as set out herein, we modify the trial court’s judgment to find that the employee is entitled to a permanent partial disability award for total loss of her right arm as a scheduled member.