Jeffrey Glenn Bogle v. Distribution & Auto Service, et al.

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The plaintiff filed this suit and alleged he had sustained permanent impairment to his knees as the result of an injury in the course and scope of his employment with the defendant. The trial judge denied the plaintiff's claim for workers' compensation and dismissed his case. The plaintiff says he carried his burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he sustained a work related injury. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The plaintiff was age 4 at the time of trial. He had a high school education and was trained in automobile body repair work. The plaintiff alleged his knees were injured when he fell off an automobile frame rack and landed on both knees on August 16, 1994. The plaintiff did not see a doctor about his knee problems until late 1994 or early 1995. The evidence of whether the injury to the plaintiff's knees was causally connected to his work with the defendant is based upon the testimony of the plaintiff and one doctor. The plaintiff testified that he considered the work related fall to be minor at first but that later he developed a gradually progressive serious problem in both knees. The plaintiff explained that he could not have known the seriousness of the fall until the onset of symptoms. Dr. Robert Russell, an orthopaedic surgeon, testified that it was not until after he performed arthroscopic surgery on the plaintiff's knees that he concluded the condition was "trauma related." Dr. Russell further testified that the plaintiff's injury was "consistent" with a fall to both knees, but he did not testify based upon a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the plaintiff 's work related fall caused his knee problems. Dr. Russell assessed a 12 percent permanent partial impairment to each knee and restricted the plaintiff from climbing, squatting, and crawling. 2