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Ivey v. Trans Global Gas & Oil9/13/1999
REVERSED IN PART; AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED IN PART
OPINION
In this workers' compensation action, the employee, Carolyn Sue Ivey (plaintiff), filed a claim for relief based upon a chronic mental disorder that arose after she was robbed at gunpoint while working at a convenience store. The trial court found that the plaintiff is permanently and totally disabled, as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-207(4)(B) (Supp. 1998), and awarded benefits to be paid until the plaintiff reaches the age of sixty-five.
The employer, Trans Global Gas & Oil, Inc. (defendant), appealed the trial court's decision to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel for findings of fact and Conclusions of law pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(5) (Supp. 1998). The Panel affirmed the trial court's finding that the plaintiff is permanently and totally disabled, but determined that the plaintiff's injury pertains to her mental faculties as enumerated at Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-207(3)(A)(ff). Under that statute, the Panel concluded that the plaintiff is entitled to recover benefits for the scheduled period of four hundred weeks.
The plaintiff, thereafter, filed a motion for full-court review of the Panel's decision pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(5)(B). We granted the appeal to address whether the plaintiff's injury pertains to a scheduled member under Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-207(3)(A)(ff) and whether she is permanently and totally disabled as defined at Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-207(4)(B). For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the plaintiff's injury falls within the schedule for mental faculty injuries at section 207(3)(A)(ff). Accordingly, both the trial court and the Panel erred in adjudging the plaintiff as permanently and totally disabled. The judgments of the trial court and the Panel are reversed in that respect.
We affirm the Panel's decision to treat the plaintiff's mental disorder as a scheduled-member injury under section 207(3)(A)(ff). However, because the plaintiff has not suffered a total loss of her mental faculties, as provided in section 207(3)(A)(ff), we find that she is not entitled to recover benefits for the maximum four hundred week period. Based upon the evidence in this case, we modify the plaintiff's recovery to three hundred weeks.
BACKGROUND
The plaintiff was thirty-nine years old at the time of trial and had been employed at the defendant's Bread Box Food Store since 1994. Initially, she worked as a clerk operating the convenience store's cash register, stocking food shelves, and cleaning the store property. After approximately one year, she was promoted to the position of assistant manager on the 2:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. shift. Her work duties remained essentially the same except that she became responsible for paper work, bank deposits, and keys to the store.
On April 3, 1996, while working alone at the store, the plaintiff was robbed by a female assailant who pointed a cocked handgun directly in her face. The plaintiff complied with the assailant's demands and did not suffer any physical injury during the robbery. Since that time, however, the plaintiff has complained of chronic emotional problems including stress, anxiety, and depression. She has expressed a constant fear that the assailant will return to kill her and is afraid to leave her house unless accompanied by friends or relatives. She also has difficulty concentrating and thinking clearly when around large groups of people and is reluctant to interact with strangers. Although the defendant has offered her several employment opportunities since the robbery, she has not engaged in any gainful employment aside from baby-sit
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