Court Opinion

ID: 9370494
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-13 20:49:51.29636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:48:53.174947
License: Public Domain

FILED
                                                                                  Feb 13, 2023
                                                                                  03:24 PM(ET)
                                                                               TENNESSEE COURT OF
                                                                              WORKERS' COMPENSATION
                                                                                     CLAIMS

           TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
          IN THE COURT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS
                         AT CHATTANOOGA

  Rodolfo Espinosa, Deceased Employee, )              Docket No.: 2022-01-0054
  by his Surviving Spouse, Laura )
  Estrella de Espinosa,                )
                                       )              State File No.: 800715-2022
  v.                                   )
  Maestro’s Pro Services, LLC,         )
               Employer.               )              Judge Thomas Wyatt

                                COMPENSATION ORDER

        On February 8, 2023, the Court heard Laura Estrella de Espinosa’s Compensation
Hearing seeking benefits arising from her husband’s death while working for Maestro’s
Pro Services, LLC. Maestro’s is uninsured for workers’ compensation risks, did not appear
for the hearing, and has not participated in the case. For the reasons below, the Court holds
that Mrs. Espinosa did not sufficiently prove the necessary underlying facts to receive death
benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act.

                                     History of Claim

       On June 14, 2021, the date Mr. Espinosa died, he, his wife, and four children resided
in Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee. Mr. Espinosa began working for Maestro’s the
previous October, performing drywall, concrete, and porch-construction services.

       Mrs. Espinosa testified that her husband earned $20 per hour and usually worked
forty hours per week. Maestro’s paid her husband in cash until two weeks before his death,
when it began paying him by check. Those check stubs verified the $20 per hour rate but
showed weekly gross wages of $545.00 and $451.60. Mrs. Espinosa explained that
Maestro scheduled her husband to work fewer than forty hours in those weeks.

        The circumstances of Mr. Espinosa’s death are not completely clear. Mrs. Espinosa
testified that her husband worked for Maestro’s on June 14. That afternoon, she received

                                             1
a telephone call at her work from Maestro’s owner, Daniel Dimas, telling her to come to a
store because her husband was ill. Before she arrived, Mr. Dimas redirected her to a
hospital, where her husband was enroute by ambulance. Mr. Dimas’s wife met Mrs.
Espinosa at the hospital, where a doctor notified them that Mr. Espinosa had died from a
heatstroke.

        The report of the emergency medical technicians who responded to Mr. Espinosa
stated he was unresponsive and without a pulse when they arrived. According to persons
whom the EMTs described as “bystanders,” Mr. Espinosa became “really hot” at work,
went home, showered, and then drove his truck to the store. They added that he vomited
in the store and returned to sit in his truck, where he lost consciousness. The EMTs began
cardiopulmonary resuscitation and rushed Mr. Espinosa to the hospital, where resuscitation
attempts continued but were unsuccessful.

       The emergency physician who treated Mr. Espinosa determined that he died from
“cardiac arrest.” The Death Certificate listed the cause of death as “Heat Stroke.”

      Mrs. Espinosa presented a bill for $800 for EMT services and a funeral bill totaling
$6,547.26. Mrs. Espinosa seeks death benefits based on an average weekly wage of $800.

                              Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

        The determination of Mrs. Espinosa’s claim begins with Tennessee Code Annotated
section 50-6-102(12) (2022), which defines a compensable injury or death as one arising
primarily out of and in the course and scope of employment. Mrs. Espinosa must prove
this foundational element of her claim by expert medical testimony. A medical opinion
about the work-relatedness of Mr. Espinosa’s death must be stated to a reasonable degree
of medical certainty, as opposed to with speculation or possibility, and the opinion must
state that the alleged work-related cause contributed more than fifty percent to his death,
considering all causes. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-102(12)(A)-(D).

        When considering the evidence in the record under the above legal standard, the
Court holds that Mrs. Espinosa failed to satisfy her burden of proof to recover benefits.
First, she did not prove her husband died while he was working. Only Mrs. Espinosa
testified at trial about the circumstances of her husband’s death. But she was not present
when her husband became ill. The only information in the record about how Mr. Espinosa
died comes from the EMT notes, which state that “bystanders” said that Mr. Espinosa
became overheated, left work, showered, and drove to a store before losing consciousness. 1

       While the EMT notes may have established that the illness from which Mr. Espinosa

1
 The Court suspects that Maestro’s owner was among the witnesses who reported information to the EMTs.
The fact that Maestro’s owner phoned Mrs. Espinosa about her husband’s illness supports this suspicion.
                                                  2
died began while he was working, Mrs. Espinosa did not prove by medical expert opinion
that her husband’s death arose primarily out of and in the course and scope of employment.
None of the medical records introduced at trial contains a physician’s opinion that the
cardiac arrest and/or heatstroke that caused Mr. Espinosa’s death arose primarily out of
and in the course and scope of employment. Thus, the Court is compelled by the lack of
necessary evidence to deny benefits in this case.

       The Court taxes the filing fee of $150.00 to Maestro’s Pro Services under Tennessee
Compilation Rules and Regulations Rule 0800-02-21-.07 (February, 2022). Further,
Maestro’s Pro Services shall prepare and submit a Statistical Data Form for this case within
ten calendar days of the date of judgment.

       IT IS ORDERED.
       ENTERED February 13, 2023.

                                   _____________________________________
                                   Judge Thomas Wyatt
                                   Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims

                                       APPENDIX

Technical record:
      1. Petition for Benefit Determination
      2. Dispute Certification Notice
      3. Post-Discovery Dispute Certification Notice
      4. Hearing Request
      5. Scheduling Order
      6. Pre-Compensation Hearing Statement
      7. List of Proposed Witnesses
      8. List of Proposed Exhibits
      9. Expedited Request for Investigation Report
      10. Returned letters addressed to Maestro’s Pro Services
      11. Notice of Deposition of the owner of Maestro’s Pro Services
      12. Employee’s First Discovery Requests to Maestro’s Pro Services

Exhibits:
      1. Affidavit of Laura Estrella de Espinoza
      2. Bradley County EMS records

                                             3
       3.  Tennova Healthcare Cleveland records
       4.  Incident report of Bradley County Sheriff’s Department
       5.  Death Certificate
       6.  Bill for services from Bradley County EMS
       7.  Funeral bill from M. D. Dotson & Sons
       8.  Filing information from the Tennessee Secretary of State on Maestro’s Pro
           Services
       9. Check stubs
       10. Marriage Certificate
       11. Transcript of attempted deposition of Maestro’s Pro Services

                             CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

       I certify that a copy of the Order was sent as indicated on February 13, 2023.

Name                         U.S. Mail     Email     Service sent to:
Marc Walwyn                                      X   marc@walwynlegal.com
Employee’s Attorney                                  frank@walwynlegla.com
Daniel Dimas                      X              X   daniel@maestroproservices.com
Maestro’s Pro Services                               1303 18th Street NW
Employer                                             Cleveland, TN 37311

                                          ______________________________________
                                          Penny Shrum, Court Clerk
                                          WC.CourtClerk@tn.gov

                                             4