1 

 

TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION 

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD 

Carrie Robinson ) Docket No. 2016-06-1563 

 )

v. ) State File No. 48284-2016 

 )

Vanderbilt University ) 

 )

 )

Appeal from the Court of Workers’ ) 

Compensation Claims, ) 

Joshua D. Baker, Judge )

Affirmed and Remanded - Filed April 18, 2017 

In this interlocutory appeal, the employee challenges the trial court’s conclusion that she 

did not file her claim within the statute of limitations provided in Tennessee Code 

Annotated section 50-6-203 (2016). Although the employee alleged injuries as a result of 

her employment with her employer, she did not file a claim for those injuries until over 

one year after the alleged date of injury and over one year from the date she retired from 

her employment. Following an expedited hearing, the trial court concluded the 

employee’s claim was time barred. The employee has appealed. We affirm the trial 

court’s decision and remand the case. 

Presiding Judge Marshall L. Davidson, III, delivered the opinion of the Appeals Board in 

which Judge David F. Hensley and Judge Timothy W. Conner joined. 

Carrie Robinson, Nashville, Tennessee, employee-appellant, pro se 

Nathaniel K. Cherry, Nashville, Tennessee, for the employer-appellee, Vanderbilt 

University 
2 

Memorandum Opinion1

Carrie Robinson (“Employee”) alleged suffering injuries to her back as a result of 

her employment in a market at Vanderbilt University (“Employer”). While the precise 

theory of her claim is unclear, it appears she alleges suffering injuries to her back and 

neck as a result of repetitive lifting of items in the store. Employee alleged a June 1, 

2015 date of injury, and she retired from her employment with Employer effective 

August 1, 2015 without having given notice of a work injury. It is undisputed that she 

first provided notice of her injuries to Employer in a letter dated April 26, 2016. 

Employer denied the claim, and Employee filed a petition for benefit 

determination on August 18, 2016. After an expedited hearing, the trial court found 

Employee had failed to file her claim for benefits within the time period mandated by 

Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-203 and declined to award benefits.2 Employee 

has appealed. 

 Employee has provided no argument or explanation on appeal identifying or 

describing any errors she contends were made by the trial court.

3

 As stated by the 

Tennessee Supreme Court, “[i]t is not the role of the courts, trial or appellate, to research 

or construct a litigant’s case or arguments for him or her.” Sneed v. Bd. of Prof’l 

Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tenn., 301 S.W.3d 603, 615 (Tenn. 2010). 

Indeed, were we to search the record for possible errors and raise issues and arguments 

for Employee, we would essentially be acting as her counsel, which the law prohibits us 

from doing. It is unclear how Employee contends the trial court erred in resolving her 

case, and we decline to speculate. 

Furthermore, without a record of the testimony presented to the trial court, the 

totality of the evidence introduced at the expedited hearing is unknown, and we will not 

speculate as to the nature and extent of the proof presented to the trial court. Consistent 

 

1

 “The Appeals Board may, in an effort to secure a just and speedy determination of matters on appeal and 

with the concurrence of all judges, decide an appeal by an abbreviated order or by memorandum opinion, 

whichever the Appeals Board deems appropriate, in cases that are not legally and/or factually novel or 

complex.” Appeals Bd. Prac. & Proc. § 1.3. 

2 Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-203(b)(1) provides that “[i]n instances when the employer has 

not paid workers’ compensation benefits . . . the right to compensation . . . shall be forever barred, unless 

the notice required by § 50-6-201 is given to the employer and a petition for benefit determination is filed 

with the bureau . . . within one (1) year after the accident resulting in injury.” Here, it is undisputed that 

Employer did not pay any workers’ compensation benefits to Employee. 

3 The notice of appeal filed by Employee merely states: “I feel that there wasn’t statute of limitations, 

because I talked to labor force and I was told that I still had time to file for workman’s comp, the date that 

was recorded is not the actually [sic] date that I filled [sic] for workman’s compensation. I was still 

working at Vanderbilt June 1, 2015.” 
3 

with established Tennessee law, we must presume that the trial court’s rulings were 

supported by sufficient evidence. See Leek v. Powell, 884 S.W.2d 118, 121 (Tenn. Ct. 

App. 1994) (“In the absence of a transcript or a statement of the evidence, we must 

conclusively presume that every fact admissible under the pleadings was found or should 

have been found favorably to the appellee.”). 

Accordingly, the trial court’s decision is affirmed, and the case is remanded for 

any further proceedings that may be necessary. 
 

 

 TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

 WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD

Carrie Robinson ) Docket No. 2016-06-1563

) 

v. ) State File No. 48284-2016 

) 

Vanderbilt University ) 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

 

I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the Appeals Board’s decision in the 

referenced case was sent to the following recipients by the following methods of service 

on this the 18th day of April, 2017. 

Name Certified 

Mail

First Class 

Mail

Via 

Fax

Fax 

Number 

Via 

Email

Email Address

Carrie Robinson X robinsoncm61@gmail.com

Nathaniel K. Cherry X ncherry@howardtatelaw.com

Joshua D. Baker, Judge X Via Electronic Mail

Kenneth M. Switzer, 

Chief Judge

X Via Electronic Mail

Penny Shrum, Clerk, 

Court of Workers’ 

Compensation Claims

X Penny.Patterson-Shrum@tn.gov

 

Jeanette Baird

Deputy Clerk, Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board

220 French Landing Dr., Ste. 1-B 

Nashville, TN 37243

Telephone: 615-253-0064

Electronic Mail: WCAppeals.Clerk@tn.gov