01C01-9603-CC-00092
01C01-9603-CC-00092
Trial Court Judge: Walter C. Kurtz

Petition. See State v. Joseph Clyde Beard, Jr., No. 03C01-9502-Cr-000044,
01C01-9603-CC-00092
Trial Court Judge: Walter C. Kurtz

State vs. Michael A. Baskette
01C01-9604-CC-00167

01C01-9605-CR-00184
01C01-9605-CR-00184

State vs. Douglas Russell Deloit
01C01-9606-CR-00275
Trial Court Judge: Fred A. Kelly

01C01-9608--CC-00335
01C01-9608--CC-00335

Marvin Goodman vs. State
01C01-9607-CR-00286
Trial Court Judge: J. Randall Wyatt, Jr.

State vs. Dwjuan L. Bradford
01C01-9607-CR-00294
Trial Court Judge: Seth W. Norman

State vs. Martha Pennington
01C01-9607-CC-00323
Trial Court Judge: Leonard W. Martin

State vs. James Edward Gates
01C01-9607-CR-00312

01C01-9607-CR-00307
01C01-9607-CR-00307

Ricky D. Hulsey vs. State
01C01-9609-CC-00399
Trial Court Judge: W. Charles Lee

James H. Turner vs. State
01C01-9608-CC-00365

State vs. Robert Moore
01C01-9608-CC-00335
Trial Court Judge: Allen W. Wallace

State vs. AAA Aaron's Action Agency
01C01-9608-CR-00348

Arthur L. Armstrong vs. State
01C01-9608-CR-00331

Steven Mason vs. State
01C01-9610-CC-00428

Lorenzo C. Waters vs. State
01C01-9609-CR-00402

State vs. Edward I. Isibor
01C01-9610-CC-00441
Trial Court Judge: Donald P. Harris

01CO1-9610-CR-00417
01CO1-9610-CR-00417
Trial Court Judge: Thomas H. Shriver

State vs. Breeden
03C01-9606-CR-00217
Trial Court Judge: Ray L. Jenkins

Givler vs. Givler
03A01-9702-CV-00061

Bunch vs. Cooper
03A01-9705-CV-00154

William D. Carroll vs. Fred Raney, Warden
02S01-9610-CC-00086

Michael A. Smith v. Continental Casualty Co.
02S01-9704-CH-00033
Authoring Judge: Hewitt P. Tomlin, Jr., Senior Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Joe C. Morris, Chancellor
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with T.C.A. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. Following a bench trial, the chancellor below found that there was no proof that plaintiff injured his back during the course and scope of his employment, and further found that plaintiff gave his employer no notice of injury. On appeal plaintiff has raised one issue for our consideration: whether the trial court erred in preventing plaintiff from offering proof as to a specific injury and notice of injury by sustaining an objection to certain testimony of plaintiff. In addition, defendant presents one issue: whether the evidence preponderates against the chancellor's finding that plaintiff did not sustain a work-related injury. We find no error and affirm. Michael A. Smith ("plaintiff") was employed by Kroger Grocery Company from 1978 through March 1994. Specifically, on March 16, 1994, plaintiff worked a nine hour shift and went home. The next morning he awoke with extreme pain in his back. He later went to the emergency room of the hospital in Jackson where he was subsequently diagnosed as having osteoporosis and three or four possible compression fractures of the vertebrae in the thoracic spine. When plaintiff's pain did not clear up, his treating physician referred him to Dr. Genaro Palmieri, who practices a specialty of endocrinology and metabolic bone diseases in Memphis. The subsequent examination of plaintiff by Dr. Palmieri confirmed that he indeed had the disease osteoporosis, in which the bones become extremely porous and more easily subject to fracture. X-rays taken by Dr. Palmieri's radiologists confirmed the fractures at T-4 and T-7, which according to the radiologists were old and were present before 1987. During the course of the trial, plaintiff was asked upon direct examination when a doctor first informed him of a connection between his work at Kroger and his back condition. Defendant's objection on the ground of hearsay was sustained by the chancellor. Subsequently, the chancellor ruled that there was nothing to indicate that plaintiff injured his back during the course and scope of his employment, therefore the injury was not compensable. The chancellor also