Walls v. Magnolia Truck Lines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 20 April 1981
• Citation: 622 S.W.2d 526
• Parties: Edsel L. WALLS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MAGNOLIA TRUCK LINES, INC., and Transportation Services, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 526

622 S.W.2d 526

Edsel L. WALLS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MAGNOLIA TRUCK LINES, INC., and Transportation Services Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

April 20, 1981.

Larry E. Parrish, Memphis, for plaintiff-appellant.

Jack A. Childers, Jr., Memphis, for defendants-appellees.

OPINION

BROCK, Justice.

This is a worker's compensation case. The plaintiff claimed in the trial court that he sustained an injury arising out of and in the course of his employment when he stood up from a squatting position after oiling the wheels of a trailer. The experienced trial judge denied the plaintiff's claim because he was unable to give credibility to the plaintiff's testimony and, accordingly, held that plaintiff had failed to carry his burden of proving that the injury arose out of and in the course of his employment.

On appeal we are limited to ascertaining whether there is any material evidence in the record to support the factual finding of the trial judge. Davis v. Gulf Ins. Group, Tenn., 546 S.W.2d 583, 585 (1977); Cassell Bros., Inc. v. Cole, Tenn., 519 S.W.2d 796, 797 (1975). Our review of the record indicates there was evidence to support the trial judge's rejection of the plaintiff's testimony and for his conclusion that the plaintiff had failed to carry his burden of proof.

The record indicates that the plaintiff-appellant testified that in October, 1977, he felt a sharp pain in his back as he stood up from a squatting position after oiling the wheels of a trailer. The pain subsided, but after a four to six week lapse, the appellant again began to feel pain. On January 11, 1978, plaintiff saw his family physician, Dr. Moore, who performed x-rays both on that date and again on January 14, 1978. Dr. Moore diagnosed the plaintiff's problem as a ruptured intervertebral disc and referred the appellant to Dr. Buchignani, a neurosurgeon, who diagnosed plaintiff's injury as a ruptured intervertebral disc. On January 27, 1978, the appellant-plaintiff underwent surgery to repair the ruptured disc. A few days following surgery appellant called his foreman, Mr. Al McGuire, and asked that he file an accident report for him. Mr. McGuire did so and submitted January 16, 1978, as the date of the injury. Mr. McGuire testified that the appellant told him during the telephone conversation that he had injured his back while working with a "come along" which had slipped, causing him to fall backward against the trailer. The appellant testified that he told Mr. McGuire of the October, 1977, incident but that Mr. McGuire made up the story about the alleged January 16, 1978, accident and insisted that appellant allow him to use the January 16, 1978, date as the date of his accident. The appellant's story was corroborated by his wife. Later the appellant prepared an accident report in order to make a claim for group insurance benefits from another insuror, the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. In this report he listed the date of the accident as January 16, 1978, and described the injury as arising from the fall against the trailer. The adjuster for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Teresa Jenkins, visited the appellant at his home and he again stated that the injury resulted from his fall on January 16 1978. Liberty Mutual paid part of the appellant's medical bills as well as benefits for total disability for two weeks, but the insurance payments were terminated when the company learned that the appellant had been to Dr. Moore on January 11, five days before the injury allegedly occurred. The appellant then filed this suit for workmen's compensation seeking benefits for permanent disability and his remaining medical expenses. The plaintiff admitted in his testimony that all of his oral and written statements to his...