Salem: Oral Arguments Announced for October

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 | 0

The Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board recently set cases for live oral argument in Knoxville, and a virtual oral argument later in the month. Interestingly, the cases represent a wide variety of procedural postures.

Jane Salem

On Thursday, the board will start by considering an order granting a motion to exclude in Taylor v. Coca Cola Bottling. Coca-Cola says the trial court abused its discretion by excluding its vocational expert from testifying at trial.

Second will be Satterfield v. Smoky Mountain Home Health and Hospice, where the board will review a compensation order awarding extraordinary relief based largely on the vocational experts’ testimony. Smoky Mountain argues that the order was error.

Third, another order on a motion will be reviewed in Basham v. SPD Hospitality. The trial judge held that an employee wasn’t entitled to additional temporary disability benefits after reaching maximum medical improvement from a mental injury because 104 weeks had passed since the date of injury, and she hadn’t alleged an “underlying” physical injury. The employee asserts that the presumption in section 50-6-207(1)(E) doesn’t apply.

Fourth, the board will review an expedited hearing order, where the trial judge weighed competing medical expert opinions about the employee’s lung and heart conditions and concluded they resulted from COVID-19 rather than exposure to cleaning chemicals at work. The employee, who never tested positive for COVID, contends this was error. The case is Randall v. Food Lion.

Finally, on Oct. 19, the board will mull a grant of summary judgment in Burke v. Steve Towers Enterprises. The worker suffered a gunshot wound while working at a tire store/auto repair shop when a co-employee was trying to sell him the gun. The employee says the trial court incorrectly held that this wasn’t within the course of his employment.

On both dates, the arguments start at 9 a.m., but the Knoxville proceedings are on Eastern time, and the virtual arguments are on Central time. The Knoxville arguments will take place at the Supreme Court Building, 505 Main Street; the docket is here. A link to observe the virtual arguments is here.

Jane Salem is a staff attorney in the Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims, Nashville. This entry is republished with permission from the court's blog.