Erwin, Joe v. BT REDI MIX, INC.

2020 TN WC 118
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedNovember 17, 2020
Docket2018-07-0065
StatusPublished

This text of 2020 TN WC 118 (Erwin, Joe v. BT REDI MIX, INC.) 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
Erwin, Joe v. BT REDI MIX, INC., 2020 TN WC 118 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2020).

Opinion

FILED Nov 17, 2020 01:48 PM(CT) TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

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

JOE ERWIN, ) Docket No. 2018-07-0065 Employee, ) v. ) BT REDI MIX, INC., ) State File No. 7429-2018 Employer, ) And ) ERIE INS. CO., ) Judge Allen Phillips Carrier. )

COMPENSATION ORDER DENYING BENEFITS

This case came before the Court for a Compensation Hearing on October 21, 2020. Mr. Erwin requested benefits for an injury to his right eye. BT Redi-Mix contended the injury did not arise out of his employment. The Court agrees with BT and denies his claim.

History of Claim

Mr. Erwin’s injury is a detached retina in his right eye, the presence of which is undisputed; however, its relation to Mr. Erwin’s employment at BT is highly disputed. Specifically, the parties contest whether the detachment occurred when Mr. Erwin was struck by a co-worker during an altercation.

The Court first considered the dispute at an Expedited Hearing. Evidence produced there provides a contextual background.

Namely, Mr. Erwin, a former cement truck driver for BT, then attributed his detached retina to an incident on June 7, 2017, when another driver, Ray Boyd, punched him directly in the right eye. He said his eye turned “black, blue, and bloody,” though he later said he did not “look in the mirror.” Nevertheless, he said by the next day he “couldn’t see” out of the eye. Conversely, BT offered the testimony of Mr. Erwin’s former supervisor, David Lovelace, who was “100% certain” he saw Mr. Boyd slap Mr. Erwin’s

1 left cheek, leaving a red mark. BT also offered the signed declaration of co-employee Brando Shaw, who saw Mr. Boyd strike Mr. Erwin’s left cheek with a “right-handed smack.”

Medical records revealed Mr. Erwin’s first evaluation did not occur until November 13, when he saw Dr. Lewis Kizer. He told Dr. Kizer that his right eye “went black” in March after getting cement in it. He also said he “was hit in [the] same eye by a guy with the palm of his hand” but did not say when. Dr. Kizer diagnosed the detached retina and referred him to Dr. Sunny Khamapirad, a retina specialist.1 On November 22, Mr. Erwin told Dr. Sunny that he was “hit with powdered cement in May 2017” and then was “punched” in the eye, presumably in May as well.2 Then, BT provided Mr. Erwin a panel of ophthalmologists from which he chose Dr. Adam Luka, who on March 30, 2018, said the retinal detachment was “presumably secondary” to trauma at work and of “8 months duration.”

The Court ruled against Mr. Erwin at the Expedited Hearing, finding his credibility suspect. Specifically, the Court found Mr. Erwin testified his co-employee struck him directly in the right eye, while two eyewitnesses swore the co-employee slapped him on the left cheek. Mr. Erwin claimed the appearance of a black, blue and bloody eye but then said, “somewhat incredulously, that he ‘did not look in the mirror.’” Mr. Erwin also said he “loses track of years,” a statement that appeared both “flippant and incredible,” given that the question centered on when his blindness began.

Further, the Court found that, “Mr. Erwin’s problem [was] not that he is a poor historian” but, instead his questionable histories prevented the Court from finding a causal connection between his injury and his work. Thus, the Court held Mr. Erwin was unlikely to prevail at a hearing on the merits and denied his claim.

After engaging in discovery and taking medical proof, the parties proceeded to the Compensation Hearing, where Mr. Erwin and several other witnesses testified

Mr. Erwin’s wife testified she recalled her husband getting cement in his eye but, rather than losing his vision then like he told Dr. Kizer, she said it improved with no problems. Then, on the date of the altercation, she observed Mr. Erwin’s right eye was “black clear down past his nose,” swollen, and looked like it was bleeding. She said it was “easily visible” and “lasted for about two weeks.” She urged him to see a physician.

Roy Alexander, a former driver at BT, testified the altercation between Mr. Erwin and Mr. Boyd occurred after Mr. Erwin asked BT for a pay raise for the drivers without 1 The parties and other physicians referred to Dr. Khamapirad as “Dr. Sunny,” and the Court will do the same. 2 Both parties argued Mr. Erwin provided a history to Dr. Sunny of being struck in the right eye in May; the Court found the handwritten note difficult to read but adopts the parties’ interpretation of it.

2 their consent. By his direct observation, he saw Mr. Boyd “slap” Mr. Erwin, leaving a handprint on his face, first saying the right side but then clarifying it was on the left side because Mr. Boyd led with his right hand while facing Mr. Erwin.

Chris Maness, who still drives for BT, saw Mr. Boyd hit Mr. Erwin, striking him with such force that his “head went back.” But he did not remember which side of Mr. Erwin’s face Mr. Boyd struck and specifically added that he was not “trying to defend or hurt [Mr. Erwin] in any way.” Another driver, Tony Garmin, did not see the altercation but noted the dispute over the pay raise led to it and that he did not ask Mr. Erwin to ask for the raise.

Mr. Lovelace again testified. He said Mr. Erwin had an out-of-state commercial driver’s license when BT hired him, and that Mr. Erwin told him then that he could not pass an eye examination to obtain a Tennessee license. He also recalled when Mr. Erwin got cement in his eye but said he did not complain of losing vision at that time.

Regarding the altercation, Mr. Lovelace said Mr. Erwin first argued with Brando Shaw regarding the pay raise request; Mr. Lovelace “broke up” that argument. Mr. Lovelace said Mr. Erwin then walked away, and Mr. Boyd approached and “came around” to face him. Mr. Lovelace was “100% positive” that Mr. Boyd then slapped Mr. Erwin’s left cheek with his right hand, asserting on cross-examination that it was not merely his opinion but “what I saw.” Further, just as he testified at the Expedited Hearing, he again said he saw a red mark on Mr. Erwin’s left cheek. Mr. Lovelace also testified Mr. Erwin did not tell him that he lost his vision until November, and but then he attributed it to getting cement in his eye.

Brando Shaw agreed he argued with Mr. Erwin over the pay raise request, asserting that he never asked Mr. Erwin to ask for it. He said that when Mr. Erwin left the office after asking for the raise, Mr. Erwin was “cussing and hollering” as if he were “drunk.” Mr. Erwin commenced the argument with him, and Mr. Lovelace separated them. Mr. Shaw then saw Mr. Erwin walk behind Mr. Boyd, continuing to loudly curse. At that point, Mr. Boyd turned to face Mr. Erwin and “smacked” him on the left cheek with his right hand. He said Mr. Boyd did not strike Mr. Erwin from behind.

For his part, Mr. Erwin testified that he “probably completed” the tenth grade and that he worked at BT on different occasions, the last time beginning in 2015 or 2016, or “something like that.” He related that he got cement in his right eye in March 2017 but that, after washing it out, had no further problems. He also said he had gotten smoke in his left eye in March, and it took him “six weeks to get the smoke out.”

Mr. Erwin confirmed that he first argued with Mr. Shaw, admitting he threatened to “break him in half.” He also said the disputes with his fellow drivers stemmed from his asking for a pay raise. When confronted with Mr. Garmin’s testimony that he did not ask

3 Mr. Erwin to request a raise, Mr. Erwin said he “wasn’t really listening” to Mr. Garmin’s trial testimony, but then tried to clarify by saying, “I probably heard him say something like that.”

As to the altercation at issue, Mr. Erwin could not remember the date.

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Related

§ 50-6-114
Tennessee § 50-6-114
§ 50-6-239
Tennessee § 50-6-239(c)(6)

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2020 TN WC 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erwin-joe-v-bt-redi-mix-inc-tennworkcompcl-2020.