Ms. Cooper filed a workers' compensation claim against her employer, Madison Haywood Developmental Services, Inc., seeking medical and disability benefits for a back injury she alleged occurred on December 1, 2021, while lifting a patient at work. The court denied her claim and dismissed the case with prejudice after a compensation hearing. The employee bore the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that her injury arose primarily from her employment, meaning it contributed more than 50% to her condition based on a reasonable degree of medical certainty. The sole qualified expert opinion, from orthopedic surgeon Dr. Murrell, concluded that the work incident did not meet this threshold and that her condition was degenerative, while other evidence such as a nurse practitioner's causation statement was inadmissible or unqualified.
The case involved a workers' compensation claim by Coley Davis against Central Transport, LLC, stemming from a forklift injury at work on May 25, 2024, which the employer initially accepted. The court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment after the employee failed to respond or appear at the hearing. The decision relied on a medical report indicating that the injury was not primarily caused by employment, that the employee had reached maximum medical improvement with no permanent impairment, and required no further treatment. Under Tennessee law, benefits are only available if the injury is more than 50% related to employment, and the undisputed facts showed no genuine issue of material fact on this element.
In this workers' compensation case, employee Terlanda Nunn sought a panel of ENT physicians and additional temporary disability benefits after tripping and falling at work for Amazon.com, LLC, which caused neck, back, and facial injuries along with dizziness. The Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims found that Amazon had provided a valid panel of ENT physicians. The court denied the request for additional temporary disability benefits because Nunn refused Amazon's offer of restricted-duty work without supporting medical evidence that she could not perform the duties, and there was no medical proof establishing her disability after April 2025, as the treating neurologist had released her to return to work earlier.
This case is a workers' compensation claim brought by Jeffrey Steele, a tour bus driver, against his employer Dreamliner Luxury Coaches and its insurer for a herniated disc injury he attributed to driving with a worn and faulty seat over thousands of miles in June and July 2025. Steele sought payment of medical bills and temporary disability benefits from July 17, 2025, through February 12, 2026. At an expedited hearing, the court found Steele credible and that his injury arose from employment but declined to award temporary disability benefits for the period July 17 to September 4 because no physician had placed him under work restrictions during that time, while approving medical benefits (subject to relatedness review) and temporary benefits from September 4 onward when Dr. Bice first restricted him. The core legal requirement applied was that an employee must prove disability due to a compensable injury, causation, and the duration of disability to recover temporary benefits under Tennessee workers' compensation law.
This case involves a workers' compensation claim by Jerome Monroe, a maintenance mechanic at Kellogg Company, who suffered a severed finger while attempting to repair a rice dryer machine on September 9, 2024. The sole disputed issue at the compensation hearing was whether Monroe willfully violated the employer's lockout safety rules by reaching into the operating equipment without disabling it, which would bar benefits under Tennessee Code Annotated sections 50-6-110(a)(1) and (4). The court found that Monroe did not willfully violate the rules, crediting his testimony that he reasonably believed no lockout was required because the outer guard was missing and the machine had recently been serviced. Based on this determination and the elements set forth in Mitchell v. Fayetteville Public Utilities, the court awarded some of the requested benefits while noting Kellogg had initially paid medical and temporary disability benefits before terminating them after the incident.
The case involved a workers' compensation claim by Darlene Taylor, the surviving spouse of Darrell Taylor, seeking death benefits after her husband suffered a fatal heart attack while employed by Dale's Recycling. Mr. Taylor died on June 22, 2023, after being pulled over by a deputy in a construction zone, climbing into a tall scrap metal trailer on a warm day to secure his load, and then collapsing inside. The employer and its carrier denied the claim, attributing the death to preexisting conditions including hypertension and diabetes rather than the employment. After reviewing testimony from the deputy, company officials, medical records showing Mr. Taylor had been cleared for driving, and expert cardiology evidence linking the event to physical and emotional stress, the court ruled that Mrs. Taylor was entitled to benefits because the heart attack arose out of and in the course of employment.