Cox, Kevin v. Sonic Automotive, d/b/a Crest Honda

2018 TN WC 68
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedMay 11, 2018
Docket2017-06-1932
StatusPublished

This text of 2018 TN WC 68 (Cox, Kevin v. Sonic Automotive, d/b/a Crest Honda) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cox, Kevin v. Sonic Automotive, d/b/a Crest Honda, 2018 TN WC 68 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

FILED May 11, 2018 10:47 AM(CT) TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN THE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS AT NASHVILLE

Kevin Cox, ) Docket No. 2017-06-1932 Employee, ) v. ) Sonic Automotive, d/b/a Crest Honda, ) State File No. 53456-2017 Employer, ) And ) Hartford Ins. Co., ) Judge Kenneth M. Switzer Carrier. )

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER DENYING REQUESTED RELIEF

Kevin Cox filed a Request for Expedited Hearing, which this Court heard on May 8, 2018. The central legal issue is whether Crest IIonda properly denied Mr. Cox's daim because his injury did not arise primarily out of and in the course and scope of employment. For the reasons below, the Court holds the denial proper and denies the requested relief at this time.

History of Claim

On the date of injury, Mr. Cox worked at Crest as an oil technician, changing oil and performing other basic vehicle maintenance.

On July 17, 2017, near the end of his workday, Mr. Cox changed into his street clothes and entered the breakroom to retrieve his lunchbox before clocking out. In the breakroom, he saw several coworkers, including Collin Elliott, "horse playing." He said that he and Mr. Elliott "had a few joking words" and were not discussing work. The gist of the banter between Mr. Cox and Mr. Elliott was that, although Mr. Cox is in his fifties, he could still "take down" Mr. Elliot, age twenty-one. According to Mr. Cox, Mr. Elliot then "walked up on me and he grabbed me. We got to tussling, and I broke my leg." Mr. Cox said his right knee "just popped."

Mr. Elliott offered a similar version of the incident, stating that they exchanged a

1 few words and then "squared up," meaning that they stood across from each other with two or three feet between them, raised their arms with open palms, and walked toward each other. Mr. Elliot said, "I put my shoulder in his chest and I put him on the couch." He heard Mr. Cox's knee pop. He acknowledged they were not angry at each other, had not argued earlier in the day, and were not fighting over work tools or duties. Mr. Elliott described the two as "buddies at work."

Crest called several witnesses, who agreed that the interaction between Mr. Cox and Mr. Elliot on the date of injury did not involve malice or violence, nor were they discussing their work duties before or during the encounter. Co-worker Brandon Moore described their words and actions as "talking smack," while another worker, Randy Carte, characterized it as "jaw-jacking" and "grade-school stuff." Mr. Carte further explained that, when no work is available, the workers spend time in the breakroom because they must remain at the dealership for their entire shifts. Supervisor James Wells characterized the general work environment at Crest as "fairly tight" with an emphasis on safety but also said, "We do try to have a good time because nobody wants to go to work and not be happy."

Mr. Cox immediately reported the injury. He initially stated that he slipped in water and later that he tripped on a mat because he did not want Mr. Elliot to get in trouble. A few days later, however, Mr. Cox admitted the horseplay. Crest denied the claim on July 21, citing "injury as a result of horseplay."

As fur his mellil:al l:are, Cresl look Mr. Cox to Concentra. When that treatment did not alleviate his pain, Mr. Cox, a former marine, sought a second opinion at the local Veterans Affairs hospital. Ultimately, he underwent knee surgery at the VA after Crest denied his claim. Mr. Cox currently receives physical therapy and believes he needs additional treatment.

Mr. Cox earned no income from the date of injury until December 27. He seeks temporary total disability benefits for that period, plus medical benefits to treat his knee.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Mr. Cox must present sufficient evidence from which the Court can determine he is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits. McCord v. Advantage Human Resourcing, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 6, at *7-8, 9 (Mar. 27, 2015). Specifically, he must show he suffered an injury as defined under the Workers' Compensation Law. That definition requires that an injury must arise primarily out of and in the course and scope of the employment. Tenn. Code Ann.§ 50-6-102(14) (2017). The Appeals Board cited longstanding Tennessee law when it explained:

"[A]n injury by accident to an employee is in the course of employment if it

2 occurred while he was perforining a duty he was employed to do; and it is an injury arising out of employment if caused by a hazard incident to such employment." Generally, an injury arises out of and is in the course and scope of employment if it has a rational connection to the work and occurs while the employee is engaged in the duties of his employment.

Scarbrough v. Right Way Recycling, LLC, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 9, at * 10 (Apr. 20, 20 15)(Intemal citations omitted).

Here, although Crest questioned Mr. Cox's credibility by emphasizing his various versions of how he became injured, Crest ultimately did not dispute that the incident occurred. Rather, Crest argued that Mr. Cox suffered injury while voluntarily engaging in "horseplay," which is an activity neither within the course and scope of employment nor arising primarily within it. 1 The Court agrees in part. Mr. Cox's injury did not arise primarily out of his employment.

Multiple witnesses substantiated that Mr. Cox's and Mr. Elliott's words and actions were friendly throughout the incident. They also agreed the two were not discussing any aspect of their work duties before or during the encounter. Thus, Mr. Cox was not performing a duty that Crest hired him to do when the injury occurred. Rather, he had completed his workday and became sidetracked from retrieving his lunchbox to engage in horseplay with Mr. Elliott. "An injury arises out of employment when there is a causal connection between the conditions under which the work is required to be performed and the resulting injury." Johnson v. Wal-Mart Assoc., Inc., 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 18, at *12 (July 2, 2015)(citation omitted). The Court holds that playful banter escalating to the point of physical injury is not a hazard incident to Mr. Cox's work as an oil technician at Crest, since the banter was not generated by a discussion over any matter related to work.

Mr. Cox cited Borden Mills, Inc. v. McGaha, 161 Tenn. 376 (Tenn. 1930), to support his claim. In that case, the employee was sitting on a box waiting to start her work duties in a mill when a coworker, "in a spirit of fun," pushed the box. !d. at 380. She fell to the floor, suffering injury. The trial court awarded benefits, and the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed. The justices cited the New York Court of Appeals as follows:

[I]t was but natural to expect them to deport themselves as young men and boys, replete with the activities of life and health. For workmen of that age, or even of maturer years, to indulge in a moment's diversion from work to joke with or play a prank upon a fellow workman, is a matter of common 1 Crest also argued that the Court should not analyze the case using the legal frameworks for willful misconduct or workplace assaults. The Court agrees. Crest did not raise the willful misconduct defense or introduce sufficient proof to support it, and as for workplace assaults, the witnesses agreed Mr. Cox and Mr. Elliott harbored no hostility between them.

3 knowledge to everyone who employs labor.

!d. However, the high Court limited recovery to employees who do not participate in the horseplay. !d. at 381.

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Related

Ransom v. HG Hill Company
326 S.W.2d 659 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1959)
Borden Mills, Inc. v. McGaha
32 S.W.2d 1039 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
2018 TN WC 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-kevin-v-sonic-automotive-dba-crest-honda-tennworkcompcl-2018.