Opinion ID: 1651299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: injury arising out of and within the scope of employment

Text: Plaintiff contends, and the trial court found, that she suffered a compensable injury as a result of an aggravation of her pre-existing arthritis, caused by her work activities. Defendant contends that Plaintiff's work activities did not accelerate her underlying condition nor cause any anatomical change in the affected area of the body and that she therefore did not sustain a compensable injury. The Court recently noted: Under Tennessee law, when a plaintiff suffers from a pre-existing condition, a claim is not compensable when the employment does not cause an actual progression or aggravation of the underlying injury. See Cunningham v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 811 S.W.2d 888, 890 (Tenn.1991). If the employment causes an increase in pain with no corresponding permanent anatomical change, then there is no new compensable injury. Id.; Talley v. Virginia Ins. Reciprocal, 775 S.W.2d 587, 591 (Tenn.1989). Barnett v. Milan Seating Sys., 215 S.W.3d 828, 835 (Tenn.2007). We review the record to determine if the evidence preponderates against the trial court's finding that Plaintiff's work activities worsened her pre-existing condition in a manner sufficient to constitute a compensable injury under this standard. Plaintiff first noticed problems with her right thumb in May 2004 while sewing head rests and having to turn them. This was her normal activity at work. She performed this task daily. Both Drs. Christian and Antwine, who treated Plaintiff for her thumb condition, diagnosed Plaintiff as having osteoarthritis. Dr. Christian characterized this type of arthritis as wear and tear arthritis. Dr. Antwine described it as arthritis not caused by some trauma, or rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Christian testified that Plaintiff said she had not had an exact injury but did relate her thumb condition to her job at Milan Seating Company. Dr. Christian was unsure of the cause of Plaintiff's condition. Dr. Christian felt that certainly Plaintiff's work aggravated her pain and discomfort but could not say whether or not any specific change in the anatomy of the MP joint of her thumb was caused by her work. Dr. Antwine stated as follows: Well, if she was not having any symptoms prior to her injury at work, and . . . was completely pain free, and after that injury began having problems after a period of time, then I would suspect that the injury at work may have caused her problem . . . it could have initially caused some damage to the joint that over time, symptoms started occurring and with an arthritic joint, usually repetitive activity or stress through that area, will cause discomfort and pain. Dr. Boals agreed that Plaintiff most likely had degenerative arthritis in her thumb joint before she actually reported her symptoms, but stated that, if she had no serious level of symptoms before, her work at Milan Seating aggravated the underlying condition by causing it to hurt. Dr. Boals stated: There is no way to know [whether or not her work caused anatomical change] except that we know that to have increased pain, something has to change anatomically to cause that pain if we have got a stable person who is not faking, and so on that basis, a good argument could be made by inductive reasoning that there has been some change. We have independently reviewed the medical testimony and the other proof and we are persuaded that the evidence does not preponderate against the finding of the trial court that Plaintiff had suffered a compensable injury to her arm.