Tennessee comp board partially reverses trial court

A farm resort worker who slipped and fell failed to prove that work caused all of his injuries, according to the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, which partly reversed a trial court ruling that established he had hurt his knee in addition to his neck and shoulder.

The board’s ruling in Graves, Chad v. Southall Adventures, LLC determined that Chad Graves’ medical record failed to show that his knee injury was at least 50% caused by his work for Franklin, Tennessee-based Southall Adventures, as required by state workers compensation law. As a result, the appeals board also nixed additional temporary disability related to the knee injury.

The appeals board, however, ordered the employer “to provide a panel of physicians for ongoing treatment of his neck injury,” which had become a part of litigation based on Mr. Graves’ decision to work with an unauthorized physician who had performed surgery.