Nps Energy Services, Inc. v. Robert Jernigan

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The plaintiff, NPS EnergyServices, Inc. appeals the judgment of the trial court finding that the defendant, Mr. Robert Jernigan sustained an injury within the course and scope of his employment when he slipped and fell while at work aggravating a pre-existing hip condition resulting in hip replacement surgery. The trial court found Mr. Jernigan entitled to a vocational disability of 45% to the body as a whole representing three times the 15% anatomical impairment rating given by both physicians in this matter. For the reasons discussed in this opinion we find that the judgment of the trial court should be reversed and the cause dismissed. Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e) (1999) Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Circuit Court Reversed and Dismissed CAROL CATALANO, SP. J., in which ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR.,J., and JAMES L.WEATHERFORD SR. J., joined. Jade A. Rogers, Gallatin, Tennessee, for the appellant, NPS Energy Systems, Inc. David Day, Cookeville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Robert Jernigan. MEMORANDUM OPINION Mr. Jernigan was 54 at the time of trial. He had completed high school and had two years of drafting courses in college. He went to trade school for four years and obtained his electrician's license to be an "electrical technician". He works through his Union for various companies in Tennessee and other states. In 1966, Mr. Jernigan broke both his femurs in a car accident and had a metal pin surgically implanted in each leg to support the broken bones. The pin in his left leg was removed six to eight months after the accident due to discomfort, but the pin in his right leg was not removed. In the early 199's, Mr. Jernigan began to notice some "twinges" in his right hip. On December 18, 1992, he saw Dr. Carl Hollman, M.D., at Upper Cumberland Orthopedic Surgery. According to Dr. Hollman's notes, x-rays indicated "severe degenerative changes of the right hip joint." Dr. Hollman prescribed anti-inflammatories, discussed treatment options, and gave Mr. Jernigan information about a total hip replacement. From 1992 to April of 1998, Mr. Jernigan did not see any more doctors concerning his right hip and was able to control occasional hip pain with pain medications. Mr. Jernigan stated that he was "happy as a lark" with this arrangement and did not see the need to consider hip replacement surgery during this time. On April 14, 1998, he returned to the Upper Cumberland Orthopedic Group and saw Dr. Sam Barnes, M.D., who prescribed pain medication. Dr. Barnes noted that Mr. Jernigan's "posttraumatic arthritis of his hip has progressed a whole lot. He has external rotation contracture and he has hip flexion contracture and apparent shortening of the extremity. We discussed total hip replacement. I think he is a candidate now for total hip replacement as he has been for some time." Mr. Jernigan considered his hip pain still manageable and was able to perform his daily personal and work activities, and it was his plan to continue to work until retirement without hip replacement. On September 13, 1998, he began working for NPS as an electrician at the TVA Cumberland City Fossil Fuel Plant making $17.2 an hour. Mr. Jernigan and his co-workers were to remove and repair a 133 ton armature from a transformer on the job site. He knew that this job was a "short duration job". On October 1, 1998, Mr. Jernigan and his co-workers began walking down a corridor with concrete floors that had been varnished recently and the whole area looked wet. Mr. Jernigan stepped into five inch wide ten inch long oblong puddle of water or oil. When he did so, both feet slipped out from under him and he landed hard directly on his right hip. After the fall he was taken to the nurses' station on a stretcher where he received some pain medication and ice. The pain had localized in his right hip, felt "like a huge bruise" and it was "very hard walking". Hoping that he had suffered only a sprain, he returned to work approximately 45 minutes later, but had to leave after his first break because the pain was getting worse. On October 11, 1998, the pain had not subsided and Mr. Jernigan went to the emergency room where he was referred for an appointment with Dr. Richard Williams M.D., an orthopedist at Upper Cumberland Orthopedic Surgery. On October 13, 1998, Dr. Williams reviewed x-rays taken after the fall that showed "severe hip degeneration [but] no obvious new bony deformityor fracture." Dr. Williams diagnosed "severe degenerative joint disease, right hip, with acute exacerbation of pain -2-