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Crotts v. Benchmark Mechanical Contractors2/5/2001
Mailed - December 11, 2000
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. The plaintiff, Kenneth Crotts, appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court of Hardin County which found the plaintiff failed to carry his burden of proving an injury by accident and dismissed his claim. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e) (1999) Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Affirmed
W. Michael Maloan, Sp. J,, delivered the opinion of the court, in which Janice M. Holder, J., and Henry D. Bell, Sp. J, joined.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
The plaintiff, Kenneth Crotts, was thirty eight (38) years old at the time of trial. He completed the ninth (9th) grade and has not obtained a GED. His wife testified he could barely read or write. His prior work history is mostly manual labor jobs in welding and pipe fitting. Plaintiff went to work for the defendant, Benchmark Mechanical Contractors, Inc., in September 1996 as a welder and pipe fitter.
Plaintiff testified he strained his back muscles in the early 1980's, but he fully recovered and had no problems with his back or missed any work before April 16, 1997. He had seen his family doctor, Dr. Virender Anand, in February and March 1997 for sinus and hand problems.
On April 16, 1977, while installing a breaker valve, he felt a pain in his back that "felt like somebody stabbed me in the back" and the pain went all the way down his right leg to his knee cap. He told his direct foreman, Gerald Coston, and the general foreman, Billy Cagle, about the injury. James Earl Young, another pipe fitting crew foreman overheard this conversation with Coston. Both Coston and Young testified they were aware of the injury.
On the evening of April 16, 1997, plaintiff went to the Magnolia Hospital emergency room in Corinth, Mississippi. Plaintiff testified he told the emergency room attendants that he hurt his back that day, that he had back pain some 15 years ago, and that he had pain all over his body due to the heavy work at Benchmark. The emergency room records do not reflect a recent injury, but "...low back pain x 15 years. worse past several months. States R leg is tingling (not a new symptom)...." He was released and told to see his family doctor the next day. Plaintiff saw Dr. Anand on April 17, 1997. He complained of "back discomfort" and reported he went to the emergency room the night before. Dr. Anand referred him to Dr. Glenn Barnett, a neurosurgeon in Jackson, Tennessee.
Plaintiff testified he told Dr. Barnett about the lifting incident, but Dr. Barnett testified by deposition he saw plaintiff on April 23, 1997, and plaintiff gave a history of "over the last couple of years he's had progressive difficulty with his right leg, described a burning, numbness that starts in his hip and goes down the leg...." Dr. Barnett's office notes of April 23, 1997, state his diagnosis as right hip and leg pain, etiology undetermined. Dr. Barnett testified plaintiff did not give a history of any work injury, and such a history would be something he would record on this notes.
Plaintiff was not satisfied with Dr. Barnett's treatment and returned to see Dr. Anand who referred him to Dr. Melvin Law, an orthopedic surgeon in Nashville. Dr. Law first saw plaintiff on May 29, 1997. Plaintiff gave a history of "back pain and leg pain...present for about two years..." but "noticed his pain occurr
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