Tennessee: Injured Employee’s Backyard Fall No Intervening Act, Employer Liable for Second Knee Surgery

A special workers’ compensation appeals panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee held that the record supported the trial court’s finding that an employer was liable for medical expenses and disability indemnity that arose from an injured employee’s backyard fall as she attempted to pick up a small, sharp object that she saw lying on the ground. Three and one-half weeks prior to the backyard fall, the employee had undergone ACL surgery to repair damage she sustained in a work-related accident. Still on double crutches, the employee fell when she placed both crutches on her left side and attempted to reach down to pick up the object, losing her balance. The employer contended the backyard fall was an intervening event that absolved it of further liability. The trial court disagreed and the special panel affirmed. The panel noted that the employee’s physician testified that the employee was compliant in her treatment and did not act inappropriately. She had not violated her medical restrictions. The physician considered the employee’s action to be foreseeable and consistent with her therapeutic program.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Brown, 2015 Tenn. LEXIS 628 (Aug. 11, 2015) [2015 Tenn. LEXIS 628 (Aug. 11, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 10.06 [10.06]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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