1 TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

WORKERS’ COMPENSAT I ON APPEALS BOARD

Billy R. Beecham ) D ocket No

. 2019

- 07

- 0184

)

v. ) S tate File N o

. 82322

- 2017

)

Celadon Group, Inc., et a l

. )

)

)

Appeal from the Court of Workers’ )

Compensation Claims )

A mber E. Luttrell

, Judge )

Affirmed and Certified as Final

T h e e m p l o y e e

, a t r u c k d r i v e r

, s u f f

e r e d i n j u r i e s w h e n h e f e l l w h i l e e x i t i n g h i s t r u c k

. T h e

e m p l o y e r a c c e p t e d t h e c l a i m a s c o m p e n s a b l e a n d p r o v i d e d w o r k e r s ’ c o m p e n s a t i o n

benefits

. A t t r i a l

, t h e e m p l o y e r r a i s e d t h e a f f

i r m a t i v e d e f e n s e o f w i l l f u l m i s c o n d u c t

. T h e

t r i a l c o u r t c o n c l u d e d t h a t t h e e m p l o y e r f a i l e d t o establish t h e a f f

i r m a t i v e d e f e n s e a n d

a w a r d e d b e n e f i t s b a s e d o n t h e p e r m a n e n t i m p a i r m e n t r a t i n g a d m i t t e d i n t o e v i d e n c e

. T h e

e m p l o y e e h a s appealed. A f t e r c a r e f u l c o n s i d e r a t i o n

, w e a f f

i r m t h e t r i a l c o u r t ’ s o r d e r a n d

c e r t i f y i t a s f i n a l

.

Judge Pele I. Godkin delivered the opinion of the Appeals Board in which Presiding

Judge Timothy W. Conner a n d Judge David F. Hensley joined.

B i l l y B e e c h a m

, P a r i s

, Tennes see, employ e e

- a p p e l l a n t

, p r o s e

K e n n e t h D

. V e i t

, N a s h v i l l e

, Tennessee, for the empl oy e r

- a p p e l l e e

, C e l a d o n G r o u p

, I n c

.

Memorandum Opinion 1

On October 18, 2017, Billy Beecham (“Employee”)

, a n o v e r

- t h e

- r o a d t r u c k d r i v e r

,

s ustained inj urie s to his neck, back, and shou lder w h e n h e f e l l while exiti n g his t r u c k

. Employe e repor ted the work incident to his employer, Celadon Group, Inc.

(“Employer”), resumed working, and sought authorized medical treatment from an urgent

1 “The a ppe als b oard may, in an effort to secure a j u st and speedy determinati on of mat ters on appeal and

with the concurrence of all judges, decide an appeal b y an abbreviated or d er or by memorandum opinion,

whichever the a pp eals b o ard dee ms appropriate, in cas es th at are not legally and/or fact ually novel or

complex.” Tenn. Comp. R. & Reg s. 0800

- 02

- 22

- .03(1) (2 020)

. 

### FILED

Feb 26, 2021

12:15 PM(CT)

TENNESSEE

WORKERS' COMPENSATION

APPEALS BOARD2 care clinic within a f ew d ays of the incident. Employee received conservative tr e atme nt

a t t h e u r g e n t c a r e f a c i l i t y and was r e l e a s e d t o return to full

- duty work.

Over the n e x t f e w m o n t h s , Employee was seen by various providers at the urgent

care facility and, in Ju ly 2018, w as r eferred to an orthopedist for further evaluation.

E m p l o y e r did not immedia t e l y p r o v i d e a p a n e l o f o r t h o p e d i s t s

, a n d E m p l o y e e returned to

t h e urgent care f a c i l i t y on two more occasions. A p r o v i d e r a t t h e u r g e n t c a r e f a c i l i t y

p l a c e d Employee at maximum m ed ical improvement

, a t w h i c h t i m e E m p l o y e r o f f

e r e d

E m p l o y e e a p anel of orthope di sts, fr om w hich he selected Dr . Tim othy Sweo.

Employee f i r s t s a w Dr. Sweo on October 10, 2018. Dr. Sweo d i a g n o s e d

E m p l o y e e w i t h cervicalgia a n d left shoulder p ain and im p o sed t emporary restrictions of

no truck driving “for the next few weeks until a ft er [phy sic a l] therapy.” A l t h o u g h

E mployer was able to accommodate Employee’s work restrictions, E m p l o y e e declined to

return to work and voluntarily resigned, claim ing he was u nable to safely operate a truck

in his condition due to pain. On Jan uary 9, 2 01 9, Dr. Swe o placed Employee at

maxi mum medical improvement, released him to regular duty, and ass igned a one percent

m e d i c a l impairment “based o n cervical strain.”

Employee o b t a i n e d a n o t h e r m e d i c a l e v a l u a t i o n f r o m Dr. Samuel Chung, who

assigned a twenty

- six percent m e d i c a l i m p a i r m e n t r a t i n g

. B e c a u s e o f t h e d i s p a r i t y i n t h e

t w o r a t i n g s

, E m p l o y e e w a s e x a m i n e d b y D r

. D a v i d W e s t through the Bureau o f W o r k e r s ’

C o m p e n s a t i o n ’s Medi ca l Imp airme nt R ating Regi stry (“M IRR”) . Dr. West concluded

the one percent impairment rating assessed by Dr. Sweo was appropriate

.

On March 8, 2019, Employee filed a petition seek ing addit ional medical treatment

and tempor ary disability benefits

. T h e t r i a l c o u r t c o n d u c t e d a n e x p e d i t e d h e a r i n g a n d

i s s u e d a n o r d e r r e q u i r i n g E m p l o y e r t o a u t h o r i z e a d d i t i o n a l t r e a t m e n t w i t h D r

. S w e o t h a t

w a s r e a s o n a b l e

, n e c e s s a r y

, a n d c a u s a l l y r e l a t e d t o t h e w o r k injury

. T h e c o u r t f o u n d

E m p l o y e e w a s n o t e n t i t l e d t o t h e a d d i t i o n a l m o n e t a ry b e n e f i t s h e h a d r e q u e s t e d

.

On October 24, 2019, Employer filed a motion to amend the Dispute Certification

No tice to include willful misco nduct as an affirmative def ens e

, a n d the c o u r t g r a n t e d t h e

m o t i o n

. A t t r i a l

, t h e c o n t e s t e d i s s u e s w e r e c o m p e n s a b i l i t y a n d t h e e x t e n t o f E m p l o y e e ’ s

v o c a t i o n a l d i s a b i l i t y

. T h e t r i a l c o u r t c o n c l u d e d E m p l o y e r h a d f a i l e d t o e s t a b l i s h w i l l f u l

m i s c o n d u c t a n d f o u n d t h e c l a i m t o b e c o m p e n s a b l e

. T h e c o u r t a w a r d e d p e r m a n e n t

d i s a b i l i t y b e n e f i t s b a s e d o n D r

. W e s t ’ s o n e p e r c e n t m e d i c a l i m p a i r m e n t r a t i n g

, which w a s

t h e o n l y i m p a i r m e n t r a t i n g e n t e r e d i n t o e v i d e n c e

. E mployee has ap p eal ed

, q u e s t i o n i n g

t h e t r i a l c o u r t ’ s a w a r d b a s e d o n t h e o n e p e r c e n t i m p a i r m e n t r a t i n g

.

Employee is self

- represented in this appeal, as he w as in the trial cour t. Par ties

who decide to represent themselves ar e enti tled to fair and equal t reatment by the courts.3 Whitaker v. Whirlpool Cor p.

, 32 S .W.3d 2 22, 227 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000). However, a s

explained by the Court of Appeals

,

courts mus t al so b e mindful of t he boun dary bet ween fairness to a pr o se

litigant and u nfairness to the pro se litigant’s adversary. Thus, the courts

must not e xcus e pr o se litigants from complying with the same sub stantive

and procedural rules that represented par ti es are expected to

o bse rve

. . . . P ro se litigants shoul d not be perm itted to shift the burden of

t he litigation to the courts or to their adversarie s.

Hess mer v. Hessmer , 138 S.W.3d 901 , 903

- 04 (Tenn. C t. App. 2003) (citations omitted).

E m p l o y e e h a s n o t f i l e d a b r i e f o n ap p e a l

. Although h e ap p e a r s t o c o n t e n d the trial

c ourt erred i n c o n c l u d i n g h e su stained a one percent impairment

, he f a i l e d t o arti culate

a n y specifi c issues f o r o u r r e v i e w

, f a i l e d t o de scribe how the tria l court purportedly erred

in its rulin gs, a n d f a i l e d t o pro vide any releva nt legal authority in su ppo rt of his position.

It is not our role to search the record for possible errors or to formulate Em ployee’s l egal

arguments where he has provided no n e

. Cosey v. Jarden Corp. , No. 2017

- 01

- 0053, 201 9

TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 3, a t *8 (Tenn. Workers’ Comp. App. Bd . Jan. 15,

2019). As we have stated on nu m erous occasions, w ere we to s earch the record fo r

possible errors and raise issues and arguments for Emplo yee, we would b e acting a s h is

cou nsel , wh ich the law prohibits. Webb v. Sherrell , No. E2013

- 02724

- COA

- R3

- CV,

2015 Tenn. App. LEXIS 645, at *5 (Tenn

. Ct. App. Aug. 12, 2015).

M o r e o v e r

, E m p l o y e e h a s n o t f i l e d a t r a n s c r i p t o f t h e p r o c e e d i n g s i n t h e t r i a l c o u r t

o r a j o i n t s t a t e m e n t o f t h e e v i d e n c e

. A s a r e s u l t

, o u r r e v i e w o f t h e e v i d e n c e i s l i m i t e d t o

t h e d o c u m e n t a ry e v i d e n c e

. T h e o n l y e v i d e n c e a d d r e s s i n g E m p l o y e e ’ s m e d i c a l

i m p a i r m e n t i s t h e o n e p e r c e n t m e d i c a l i m p a i r m e n t r a t i n g f r o m D r

. W e s t

. A c c o r d i n g l y

,

w e c o n c l u d e t h e p r e p o n d e r a n c e o f t h e e v i d e n c e s u p p o r t s t h e t r i a l c o u r t ’ s d e t e r m i n a t i o n

. W e affirm the trial court’s c o m p e n s a t i o n o r d e r a n d c e r t i f y i t a s f i n a l . Costs on appeal are

t a x e d t o E m p l o y e e

.TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

WORKERS’ COMPENSAT ION APPEALS BOARD

Billy R. Beecham ) Docket No. 2019-07-0184

)

v. ) State File No. 82322-2017

)

Celadon Group, Inc., et al. )

)

)

Appeal from the Court of Workers’ )

Compensation Claims )

Amber E. L uttrell , Judge )

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

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

case was sent to th e following recipients by the following methods of service on this the 26th day

of February , 2021.

Name Certified

Mail First Class

Mail Via

Fax Via

Email S ent to:

Billy Beecham X b illybeecham7 6@gmail.com

Kenneth D. Veit

Crystal Brown X k enny

. veit@leitnerfirm.com

c rystal. brown@leitnerfirm.co m

Amber E. Luttrell

, Judge X Via Electronic Mail

Ke nneth M. Switzer

, Chief Judge X Via Electronic Mail

Penny Shrum, Clerk, Court of

Workers’ Compensation Claims X penny.patterson

- shrum@tn.gov

Olivia Yearwood

Clerk, Wo rkers’ Compensation Appeals Board

220 French Landing Dr., Ste. 1-B

Nashville, TN 37243

Telephone: 615-253-1606

Electronic Mail: WCAppeals .Clerk@tn.gov