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Mackie v. Young Sales Corporation3/1/2001
As amended August 23, 2001
We granted review in this workers' compensation case to determine whether the trial court erred in awarding temporary total benefits and death benefits based on the maximum weekly wage where the employee did not earn any wages in the 52 weeks prior to being diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. On appeal, the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel concluded that the trial court erred in awarding benefits based on the maximum weekly wage because the employee was voluntarily retired at the time of his diagnosis, and that benefits were to be based on the minimum weekly wage. After reviewing the record and applicable authority, we conclude that an employee's voluntary retirement does not preclude workers' compensation benefits for an injury arising out of and in the course of employment and that the trial court properly awarded benefits based on the maximum weekly rate under the facts of this case.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e); Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law by the Special Workers' Compensation Panel Rejected; Judgment of the Trial Court Affirmed
E. Riley Anderson, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Frank F. Drowota, III, Janice M. Holder, and William M. Barker, JJ., joined. Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., J., not participating.
OPINION
The employee, James Mackie, installed asbestos insulation for much of his working life between 1948 and 1988. According to a stipulation between the parties, Mackie's last injurious exposure to asbestos occurred while he was working for the defendant, Young Sales Corporation, in 1973.
Mackie stopped working sometime in 1989 or 1990 because he wanted to retire. Although he retained his union membership in Asbestos Workers Local 86 and could have returned to work, subject to availability, Mackie did not return to work at any time after his retirement. On January 23, 1993, Mackie was diagnosed with asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma, which the parties stipulated was caused by exposure to asbestos insulation. On May 15, 1993, Mackie died from the illness.
The plaintiff, Dorothy Mackie, filed this suit seeking workers' compensation benefits for the death of her husband. The trial court entered a judgment awarding total temporary disability benefits, for the period of January 23, 1993 to May 15, 1993, and death benefits. The trial court calculated the maximum weekly rate of $318.24 based on evidence in the record that members of Asbestos Union Local 86 earned $17.22 per hour in 1993.
On appeal, the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel concluded that the trial court erred in awarding temporary benefits and death benefits based on the maximum weekly wage because James Mackie was voluntarily retired at the time he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. The Panel therefore modified the judgment to reflect a minimum weekly compensation rate of $35 per week. We granted the appellant's motion for review to consider these issues.
ANALYSIS
We begin our analysis by observing that the workers' compensation statutes, Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-101, et seq. (1999), were enacted by the legislature to provide compensation to an employee who sustains an injury that arises out of and in the course of his or her employment. See Mathis v. J.L. Forrest & Sons, 216 S.W.2d 967, 967 (Tenn. 1949). The purpose is to "provide injured workers with periodic payments as a substitute for lost wages in a manner consistent with the worker's regular wage." Perdue v. Green Branch Mining Co., 837 S.W.2d 56, 59 (Tenn. 1992) (citing Van Hooser v. Mueller Co., 741 S.W.2d 329, 330 (Tenn. 1987)). In cases where the work-related injury has
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