Title: Kellwood Co. v. Gibson
Citation: 581 S.W.2d 645
Docket Number: N/A
State: Tennessee
Issuer: Tennessee Supreme Court
Date: May 7, 1979

581 S.W.2d 645 (1979) KELLWOOD COMPANY, Appellant, v. Quay GIBSON, Appellee. Supreme Court of Tennessee. May 7, 1979. Rehearing Denied June 11, 1979. Sidney W. Spragins, Jackson, for appellant; Spragins &amp; Murchison, Jackson, of counsel. Pat H. Mann, Jr., Brownsville, for appellee. BROCK, Justice. This is a workmen's compensation case. The employer appeals from the decree of the Chancellor awarding to the employee benefits for temporary total disability from May 28, 1975, to August 4, 1975, medical expenses incurred and benefits for 60% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole. The employer contests the Chancellor's conclusion that the accident arose out of and in the course of the employee's employment and also the Chancellor's finding of permanent partial disability. We affirm the decree of the Chancellor. *646 At the end of the work shift on May 28, 1975, the plaintiff, along with other employees, was leaving the manufacturing plant of the defendant in which she worked when she received the injury. A heavy downpour of rain had just occurred prior to the end of the work shift and surface water from this heavy rainfall had collected on the parking lot owned and maintained by the defendant for the use of its employees. The parking lot was paved but had several deep potholes in the pavement. The heavy accumulation of surface water from the downpour filled the potholes and prevented their disclosure to the plaintiff as she was walking from the building where she worked toward the car in which she was to ride home and which was parked upon the defendant's parking lot. She stepped into one of the deep potholes causing her to fall with great force to the pavement, thereby receiving the injuries which she alleges have disabled her. The defendant has sought to avoid liability upon the theory that the plaintiff's accident did not arise out of and in the course of her employment. This insistence is without merit; the facts of this case clearly bring the accident within the ambit of liability as set out in Aluminum Company of America v. Baker, Tenn., 542 S.W.2d 819 (1976); Frazier v. Normak International and Chubb-Pacific Indemnity Group, Tenn., 572 S.W.2d 650 (1978); Potts v. Heil-Quaker Corporation, Tenn., 482 S.W.2d 135 (1972). In fact, this case for all practical purposes is indistinguishable from Aluminum Company of America v. Baker, supra. In the instant case, the parking lot was owned and maintained by the defendant employer expressly for the purpose of providing a parking area for the automobiles used by its employees in going to and from work. A handbook, styled "Welcome! Let's Get Acquainted," issued by the defendant employer to its employees, including the plaintiff, contained the following provision: The evidence shows that there was no other place for defendant's employees to park near its plant other than the parking lot maintained and provided by it for their use. Its parking lot was restricted to use by its employees and there is no way to exit the building in which the plaintiff works without crossing the parking lot where she fell. These facts bring the case squarely within the "required or furnished route" rule and the "special hazard" rule as defined in Aluminum Company of America v. Baker, supra, in which we said: Clearly, the Chancellor decided the issue of liability correctly. The other question presented is whether there is any evidence to support the finding of the trial court that the plaintiff received a 60% permanent partial disability to her body as a whole. Shortly following the fall above mentioned, the plaintiff began to suffer pain in the area of her low back. She was treated by a Dr. J.T. Craig, an orthopedic *647 surgeon selected by the employer, who treated her from June 6, 1975, to April 13, 1976. Because of the injuries suffered, petitioner was off work from May 29, 1975, through August 4, 1975. After she returned to work, her pain and other symptoms recurred. The plaintiff is a 53-year-old woman with an eighth grade education who worked for the defendant from 1960 through April, 1976, as a sewing machine operator. Since she was injured, the plaintiff has been unable to do her household chores or to assist her husband in his operation of a nursery, as she did prior to the injury. According to Dr. Craig the injuries suffered by her aggravated a pre-existing arthritic condition of her low back. Dr. Craig, the treating physician and the only medical witness who testified at the trial, stated that, assuming that the plaintiff is experiencing pain as she testified she was, she would be unable to do the type of work required of her employment with the defendant which included "lifting, moving bundles about at work and sitting for a long period of time." He further stated that he had no reason whatever to disbelieve the plaintiff's complaints. With respect to the effect of the work upon her symptoms, he stated: At another point the doctor testified as follows: Although the testimony of Dr. Craig leaves much to be desired, construing it most favorably to the conclusion reached by the trial judge, as we must, it may be considered sufficient to support the conclusion that the plaintiff suffered a permanent *648 partial disability to her body as a whole. Of course, once permanency and causation are established by medical testimony, the extent of such disability may be determined from lay testimony and other evidence as well as from medical evidence. The ultimate determination in this respect rested heavily upon the credibility to be given to the plaintiff, herself, of whom the trial judge stated that he was very favorably impressed with her frankness and apparent honesty. We cannot say that this ultimate conclusion that she suffered a permanent partial disability of 60% of the body as a whole is without foundation in the evidence. Accordingly, we must affirm. Smith v. Hale, Tenn., 528 S.W.2d 543 (1975). We find no error; the decree of the trial court is affirmed. Costs are adjudged against the appellant. HENRY, C.J., and COOPER, J., concur. FONES, J., separate opinion concurring in part, dissenting in part in which HARBISON, J., concurs. FONES, Justice, concurring in part, dissenting in part. I respectfully dissent. I agree with the majority opinion on the issue of liability. I do not agree that Dr. Craig expressed the opinion that plaintiff has a permanent partial disability. See Owens-Illinois, Inc., Forest Products Division and The Aetna Casualty and Surety Company v. Lane, released December 27, 1978, Eastern Division. There being no other expert medical testimony, I would reverse the award of sixty percent permanent partial disability awarded by the trial judge. I am authorized to state that Justice Harbison concurs in this opinion.