Townsend v. State
| Decision Date | 24 February 1992 |
| Citation | 826 S.W.2d 434 |
| Parties | Keith E. TOWNSEND, Claimant-Appellant, v. STATE of Tennessee, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
F. Chris Cawood, Kingston, for claimant-appellant.
Charles W. Burson, Atty. Gen. & Reporter, John Knox Walkup, Sol. Gen., Brenda Rhoton Little, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for defendant-appellee.
In this worker's compensation action against the State of Tennessee, the Claims Commissioner dismissed the plaintiff's claim, on the grounds that the aggravation of his pre-existing knee injury was not an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. The Commissioner also held that the plaintiff did not give proper notice of his injury, as required by Tenn.Code Ann. Sec. 50-6-201, and that he failed to obtain approval from his employer before seeking medical treatment.
We need not determine the issues of notice and authorized medical treatment, since the evidence does not preponderate against the Commissioner's holding that the aggravation of plaintiff's pre-existing injury was not an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. Accordingly, we affirm the Commissioner's judgment.
The plaintiff, Keith E. Townsend, age 24, was first employed by the Tennessee Department of Corrections at the Morgan County Regional Center in June of 1986. The plaintiff worked as a long-line correctional officer from October 1986 until the present time. As a long-line officer, he was responsible, along with other security personnel, for taking groups of inmates from inside the institution to work areas around the correctional system farm. His job responsibilities required him to walk over gravel, grass, and uneven terrain.
In September of 1984, before his state employment, the plaintiff seriously injured his right knee in a motorcyle accident. Total reconstructive knee surgery was performed by Dr. Gilbert Pratt, who died a short time later. The plaintiff was thereafter treated by Dr. McDonald Burkhart, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Burkhart removed his cast, fitted him for a Lennox Hill brace, and then provided follow-up care until June 12, 1985. When Dr. Burkhart last saw him, the reconstructed ligament was still loose and the knee was unstable because he had no anterior cruciate ligament.
When the plaintiff began working for the Department of Corrections in 1986, his supervisor was well aware that he had suffered a previous knee injury and often asked about his knee and whether he was having problems. The plaintiff's response was always that there were no problems with his knee. He also advised his supervisor that walking was better for his knee, and that his doctor had advised him that it was therapeutic for him to walk. If he had problems, the plaintiff understood he could have requested to be reassigned to a position that did not require working on the long line, but he never made such a request.
On February 5, 1988, the plaintiff returned to Dr. Burkhart for the first time since 1985 and advised the doctor that he had developed pain in his knee two months before, after running, and that his knee had become much worse. Specifically, the doctor's attending physician's report read:
Patient developed pain after running approximately two months prior 2/5/88. Old history of surgery 1984 and problems off and on since.
Dr. Burkhart diagnosed the plaintiff as having an unstable knee, secondary to anterior cruciate ligament loss. Dr. Burkhart explained that the plaintiff's surgery in 1984 had left the ligament loose and that over a period of time it had gradually become looser and stretched out, and that plaintiff's degenerative arthritis had developed and progressed because of the unstable knee.
Dr. Burkhart recommended and performed surgery in early March of 1988, which consisted of a reconstruction of the ligament, as well as the removal of a torn cartilage and shaving of the kneecap because of arthritic changes. The plaintiff was fitted with a brace and kept off work until August 1, 1988. He was told to use his brace "only during times he was engaged in sporting activities, such as ball playing, basketball, softball, running, football, or something that involved a lot of strain on his knee." He was released to return to the same job with no restrictions; his activity to be guided by common sense and the amount of discomfort. He was still working at the same job at the time of trial.
Dr. Burkhart felt that the plaintiff had a 20 percent permanent physical impairment to his lower extremity, but was unable to assess what part of that disability would have been due to the 1984 knee reconstruction surgery.
The plaintiff reported to his supervisor the day after his visit with Dr. Burkhart on February 5, 1988, that there was some damage to his knee, that the doctor wanted to perform surgery, and that it was repair work from the previous 1984 knee injury and surgery. The plaintiff did not tell his supervisor that he had a work-related injury, and continued to work until the date of his surgery in the first week of March, 1988. On April 4, 1988, the plaintiff wrote a letter requesting special leave from work because his accumulated leave time had expired, and at that time did not report that his injury was work-related.
Finally, on June 1, 1988, the plaintiff went to the Department of Corrections personnel department and filed a claim that his injury was work-related. On the next day, June 2, 1988, he advised his supervisor of the claim.
Dr. Burkhart testified at trial that the plaintiff questioned him concerning the possibility of work aggravation of his condition in May or June of 1988, and...
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