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Shank v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.6/8/1998
RUTHERFORD CHANCERY
HON. ROBERT E. CORLEW, III, CHANCELLOR
MEMORANDUM
AFFIRMED
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and Conclusions of law.
Review of the findings of fact made by the trial court is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the findings, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(2); Stone v. City of McMinnville, 896 S.W.2d 548, 550 (Tenn. 1995). The application of this standard requires this Court to weigh in more depth the factual findings and Conclusions of the trial court in a workers' compensation case. See Corcoran v. Foster Auto GMC, Inc., 746 S.W.2d 452, 456 (Tenn. 1988).
In this case, the plaintiff brought suit against the defendant Wal-Mart, alleging she was entitled to workers' compensation benefits as a result of a back injury and sinus injury sustained in the course of her employment.
The trial court found the plaintiff's sinus injury was not compensable but the plaintiff's back injury was compensable, awarding her 38 percent permanent partial disability to the body as a whole, temporary total disability benefits, and unpaid medical benefits for the services of Dr. Rex Arendall.
The defendant appeals and presents the following issues:
"I. Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 50-6-102(a)(5) and the facts of this case, the proof at trial preponderates against the trial court'sfinding that the plaintiff's back injury was causally related to the accident she reported of April 26, 1994.
II. The trial court erred in finding that the plaintiff's back injury was subject to the six (6) times multiplier in Tennessee Code Annotated § 50-6-241(b) rather than the two and one-half (2 ½) times multiplier in
Tennessee Code Annotated § 50-6-241(a)(1).
III. The medical care of Dr. Rex Arendall was unauthorized and should not have been awarded by the trial court.
IV. The trial court erred in refusing to admit into evidence release from work slips provided to defendant by the plaintiff and which were included in and became a part of her personnel file."
We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
FACTS
The plaintiff, age 39 at the time of trial, has a GED and no further vocational training. Before moving to Tennessee, the plaintiff lived in Michigan and performed a variety of jobs, all of which involved bending, stooping, twisting, and lifting 25 to 30 pounds and up to 80 pounds.
In May 1993, the plaintiff went to work for the defendant Wal-Mart as a stocker in the receiving department in Smyrna, Tennessee. As a stocker, she unloaded trucks, then delivered the merchandise to the pallets for the different departments, and then put the freight away. This work required her to lift up to 80 pounds.
The plaintiff testified she was stocking merchandise for the defendant on April 26, 1994 when a boxed chain saw fell from a pallet two or three feet above her and struck her on the left side of the face. She said her head, nose, and eye all hurt immediately. The plaintiff attempted to avoid the box by turning to the right, but she twisted her back as she was knocked to the concrete floor. She testified she experienced immediate back pain.
A co-worker, who took the plaintiff to the emergency room at Smyrna Medical Center, testified the plaintiff's only
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