APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS | Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts

Please enter some keywords to search.

COURT

COUNTY

AUTHORING JUDGE

ORIGINATING JUDGE

CASE NUMBER

DATE FILTER

SEARCH TITLE

SEARCH CASE SUMMARY

Robert Stone v. Saturn Corporation 01S01-9610-CH-00213 Authoring Judge: William S. Russell, Retired Judge Originating Judge:Hon.	Maury County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/12/97
Joseph Craig v. Murray Guard, Inc., et al. 01S01-9612-CH-00251 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 and its insurer contend the injury did not arise out of the employment and that the award of permanent partial benefits is excessive. The employee contends the award is inadequate. As discussed below, the panel has concluded the judgment should be affirmed. The employee or claimant, Joseph Craig, was sixty-eight years old at the time of the injury. He has a college degree in engineering but has never been employed in that field. On March 12, 1995, while working as a security guard for Murray, he slipped and fell to a linoleum floor, fracturing his left hip. The employer's contention is that the injury is not compensable because the proof does not establish that there was any slippery substance on the floor. The injured hip was surgically repaired by Dr. Daniel Phillips, who assigned no permanent impairment or limitations. Another orthopedic surgeon, Dr. John McInnis, examined the claimant and opined he would retain a permanent impairment of five percent to the whole body and advised that the claimant limit his activities to minimal squatting and walking and not more than two or three hours of standing per day. The claimant returned to work on May 5, 1995 at his previous salary. The trial court found the injury to be compensable and awarded permanent partial disability benefits based on five percent to the body as a whole. 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). Where the trial judge has seen and heard the witnesses, especially if issues of credibility and weight to be given oral testimony are involved, considerable deference must be accorded those circumstances on review. McCaleb v. Saturn Corp., 91 S.W.2d 412 (Tenn. 1995). In a workers' compensation case, the claimant is not required to establish any degree of fault by the employee, merely that the injury resulted from an accident arising out of and in the course of employment. An injury arises out of the employment when there is apparent to the rational mind, upon a consideration of all the circumstances, a causal connection between the conditions under which the work is required to be performed and the resulting injury. Fink v. Caudle, 856 S.W.2d 952 (Tenn. 1993). The employer's contention that the fall was idiopathic is based entirely on the circumstance that no slippery substance was found on the floor where the claimant fell. The claimant was alone at the time and was not found 2 Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge Originating Judge:Hon. Walter C. Kurtz,	Davidson County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/12/97
X2010-0000-XX-X00-XX X2010-0000-XX-X00-XX Originating Judge:Jon Kerry Blackwood	Hardeman County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/12/97
State vs. Lawson 03C01-9608-CR-00282	Hancock County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Haney 03C01-9612-CC-00449 Originating Judge:Rex Henry Ogle	Cocke County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
03CO1-9610-CR-00373 03CO1-9610-CR-00373	Knox County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
03C01-9610-CR-00380 03C01-9610-CR-00380	Carter County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
Montgomery vs. State 03C01-9507-CC-00189 Originating Judge:Arden L. Hill	Carter County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Farr 03C01-9701-CR-00004	Knox County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
Bass vs. State 03C01-9612-CR-00466 Originating Judge:Lynn W. Brown	Johnson County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
Howell vs. State 03C01-9703-CR-00095		Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
Jerel Hughes v. Dept. of Correction M2001-00074-COA-R3-CV Petitioner, a state inmate, filed the underlying action seeking review of actions taken by the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, including the decision of the Board to deny parole and set the next parole hearing two years later. Petitioner had been convicted of an additional felony while on parole from a previous felony conviction. The trial court dismissed the petition for failure to state a claim under Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(6). For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the decision of the trial court. Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Patricia J. Cottrell Originating Judge:Ellen Hobbs Lyle	Davidson County	Court of Appeals	09/10/97
Glover v. Philips 03S01-9607-CV-00076 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, who was 38 years of age at the time of this trial and who has a meager education, testified she fell over a fan on September 15 or 16, 1993 while working for the defendant and injured her back. The trial judge awarded 31% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole. We affirm in part and reverse in part. The plaintiff testified she told her supervisor at the time of the fall that she was injured. The supervisor denied he received this report. The dispensary nurse at the plant notes that on September 16 at 3:45 p.m., the plaintiff came to the dispensary and complained of back pain which, the note showed, was reported to be the result of a fall three years previously. There is no indication the nurse in the dispensary referred the plaintiff to an approved physician for treatment or evaluation of work injuries. The entry shows the plaintiff was sent home and ordered to take Advil for the pain. On September 17, 1993, the plaintiff was seen by Dr. Stanley of the Takoma Medical Group. Medicine for pain and muscle relaxers were prescribed for the plaintiff. The plaintiff was next seen in March 1994 by the group, then June 13, 1994, July 2, 1994, October 4, 1994, November 1, 1994 and March 1995. The testimony concerning the plaintiff's treatment and depression was given by Dr. Richard J. Aasheim, a family practitioner. The testimony reveals the plaintiff had a plethora of ailments, many attributable to her general physical condition, which showed a person 5'2" who weighed more than 18 pounds and was moderately obese. We need not go into great detail concerning the overall medical findings concerning the plaintiff. The pertinent parts of the doctor's testimony for the purpose of this case is his finding the plaintiff had lower back pain and muscle spasm as a result of the fall she related to him, with underlying chronic back pain prior to the fall. He testified that the fall aggravated and advanced pre-existing chronic back pain. 2 Authoring Judge: John K. Byers, Senior Judge Originating Judge:Hon. Ben K. Wexler,	Knox County	Workers Compensation Panel	09/10/97
State vs. Cleophes Carter 02C01-9603-CR-00083	Shelby County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Doyle Hart 02C01-9612-CC-00451		Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Ray Douglas 02C01-9610-CR-00349		Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Leslie Thompson 02C01-9607-CR-00245		Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Gary Cooper 02C01-9610-CC-00334 Originating Judge:Joe G. Riley. Jr.	Lake County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Cleophes Carter 02C01-9603-CR-00083 Originating Judge:James C. Beasley, Jr.	Shelby County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Sammy Golden 02C01-9611-CR-00393	Shelby County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
James Lowery, et al vs. Gary & Emily Franks 02A01-9612-CV-00304 Originating Judge:John Franklin Murchison	Madison County	Court of Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. James Corder 02C01-9606-CC-00189		Court of Criminal Appeals	09/10/97
State vs. Jerry Dorsey 02C01-9508-CR-00218 Originating Judge:W. Fred Axley	Shelby County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/09/97
Gloria Spivey, et al vs. James Robinson, et al 02A01-9704-CV-00075 Originating Judge:William B. Acree	Shelby County	Court of Appeals	09/09/97
State vs. Paul Mason 02C01-9611-CC-00404 Originating Judge:Joe G. Riley. Jr.	Lake County	Court of Criminal Appeals	09/09/97