Comp court says no proof employee knew of safety protocols when he fell

The Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims on Friday said a comp insurer and an electric company were wrong to deny a claim filed by the representative of an electrician who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall from a ladder, which they claimed was the result of the man not following safety protocols.

Both entities also claimed Huberney Vallejo, who was performing work at a middle school, was not an employee of the company hired to work at the site, as documented in Huberney Vallejo, o/b/o Jhon Vallejo v. South Power Electric, LLC; The Sheffield Fund; Maddux Electric Co., Inc.; and Hanover Insurance.

Maddux Electric Co. and its insurer Hanover Insurance argued that Mr. Vallejo was an employee of South Power Electric LLC, which contracted with Maddux to work at the middle school. South Power, which was covering the treatment and had paid $54,787 in disability costs related to the man’s fall, was not insured at the time.

The court relied on case law to determine that Mr. Vallejo was a “borrowed” employee of Maddux, and that it is liable for his injuries, per Tennessee law: “Mr. Vallejo is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits in showing that South Power, which was uninsured on the date of the accident, is liable, along with Maddux and Hanover as the next entity up the chain.” The court said no party can “contract away” obligations to cover workers under workers comp.

On the argument that Mr. Vallejo had not followed safety protocols and suffered his fall as a result, the court found that no proof existed of such, and that there were no witnesses of the fall and that the ladder, which testimony from eyewitnesses described as being in poor shape and not belonging to Maddux, had been destroyed.

This “safety rule defense,” the court said, is not likely to prevail, as there was no proof that Mr. Vallejo was made aware of safety protocols: “Without actual notice of the ladder policy, Mr. Vallejo cannot have acted willfully or intentionally in violating that policy. Therefore, without proximate cause or actual notice, this defense fails.”

The court ordered both Maddux and South Power to cover medical costs, which documents showed to be more than $3.9 million, along with $184,058 in court and attorney fees and $12,516 in attorney expenses related to Mr. Vallejo’s immigration court proceedings, delayed and complicated as a result of his injury. Maddux had argued that the immigration proceedings were unrelated to that of workers comp, of which the court disagreed, calling the immigration proceedings necessary to fulfill the requirements of the latter.

Both companies were ordered to continue to pay $688 in weekly disability.