Susie Plunk v. Professional Home Health Care Services

Susie Plunk (“Employee”) alleged that she sustained a compensable injury in the course and scope of her employment with Professional Home Health Care Services (“Employer”). Employer filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that Employee’s claim should be dismissed for lack of service of process or insufficient process. The trial court granted Employer’s motion finding that Employer was not served with process, Employer had sufficiently raised failure of service of process as a defense, and Employer had not waived that defense by participating in the litigation. Employee has appealed that decision. The appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 51. We reverse the decision of the trial court and remand the case for a trial on the issues.