Mackie, James v. Nationwide Logistics, LLC

2018 TN WC 67
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedMay 11, 2018
Docket2016-05-1159
StatusPublished

This text of 2018 TN WC 67 (Mackie, James v. Nationwide Logistics, LLC) 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
Mackie, James v. Nationwide Logistics, LLC, 2018 TN WC 67 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

FILED May 11, 2018 10:23 AM(CT) TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

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

JAMES S. MACKIE, ) Docket No. 2016-05-1159 Employee, ) ) v. ) ) NATIONWIDE LOGISTICS, LLC, ) State File No. 40476-2016 Employer, ) ) And ) ) NORTHSTONE INS. CORP., ) Judge Dale Tipps Insurer. )

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER GRANTING BENEFITS

This matter came before the Court on May 3, 2018, for an Expedited Hearing. The present focus of this case is whether Mr. Mackie is entitled to medical and temporary disability benefits for his alleged back and chest injuries. The central legal issues are whether he is likely to establish at a hearing on the merits that he gave adequate notice of his alleged injury and whether it arose primarily out of and in the course and scope of his employment. For the reasons below, the Court finds that Mr. Mackie is likely to prove that he gave proper notice but cannot find he is likely to prove his injuries arose primarily out of and in the course and scope of his employment. However, he is entitled to a panel of physicians.

History of Claim

Mr. Mackie worked for Nationwide Logistics as a mechanic. On May 10, 2016, he was working on a skid loader when the loader’s tire came loose. Mr. Mackie fell on his back, and the tire landed on his chest. Because he was working the evening shift, no supervisor was present. Mr. Mackie was in pain and had breathing problems, but he finished his shift and went home.

1 The next morning, Mr. Mackie went to Vickie Mitchell, FNP, his primary care provider. He also called his supervisor, Mark Russell, and told him about the accident. Mr. Mackie told Mr. Russell he would not be at work that day. He returned to work on May 12 but was unable to finish his shift because of pain and breathing difficulties. Mr. Mackie went to St. Thomas Rutherford emergency room that evening, and the hospital admitted him until his discharge on May 19. Nationwide did not provide a panel of physicians or pay for Mr. Mackie’s medical treatment.

After the hospital released Mr. Mackie, Nationwide sent him to Dr. Samuel Sells for a fitness determination. Based on Dr. Sells’ examination and restrictions, Nationwide terminated Mr. Mackie. He has not worked anywhere since his injury.

The parties offered a number of medical records as exhibits to the hearing. The earliest of these records is a Commercial Driver medical report that pre-dates Mr. Mackie’s alleged injury. In June 2012, Dr. Sells examined Mr. Mackie and noted “abnormal and diminished breath sounds (R) lung compared to (L) lung.” Noting he was a forty-year smoker, Dr. Sells recommended a complete work-up with a chest x-ray and advised Mr. Mackie to stop smoking.

Records from FNP Mitchell show that she saw Mr. Mackie for complaints of back pain the day after the work accident. He reported pulling a muscle “one week ago” and having some spasms and intermittent pain since then. Mr. Mackie also told FNP Mitchell about his work accident the day before and stated he “pulled his back severely.” He said he was “in severe pain, can’t sit or stand for longer than 5 minutes, can’t lie down, is clammy.” FNP Mitchell noted swelling, tenderness, and intermittent spasm in Mr. Mackie’s back. She prescribed pain medicine and muscle relaxer and told him to go the emergency room if his condition did not improve.

St. Thomas Rutherford records show that Mr. Mackie went to the emergency department a little after midnight on May 13 with complaints of abdominal pain, nausea, shortness of breath, and radiating back pain. In one record, Mr. Mackie described pain that began when a large tire hit him in the chest at work two days earlier. In another record, he described the tire accident but noted he was having discomfort before it occurred. Specifically, he reported the onset of right upper quadrant pain and shortness of breath on Sunday, May 8, which prevented him from lying flat to sleep. Imaging studies showed a right pleural effusion, and Mr. Mackie underwent a thoracentesis procedure and placement of a chest tube.

Mr. Mackie’s diagnostic tests included a thoracic MRI. These films showed a small disk bulge, so Dr. Michael Moran provided a neurosurgery consult. He noted “a T7-T8 right paracentral chronic disk osteophyte complex which abuts the cord but does not severely compress it.” Dr. Moran determined the “incidentally discovered” disc

2 bulge was not clinically significant and required no further workup or treatment.

Infectious disease specialist Rakesh Kumar provided another consultation. He noted Mr. Mackie’s history of pain and increasing shortness of breath beginning about a week before his hospital admission as well as a chronic cough that gradually worsened. Dr. Kumar attributed the pleural effusion to empyema with right lower lobe pneumonia, both of which he treated with numerous antibiotics. He also related Mr. Mackie’s abdominal and back pain to the pneumonia and empyema.

After leaving the hospital, Mr. Mackie followed up with Dr. Moran. Dr. Moran noted some mechanical thoracic muscular pain but no myleopathic signs or symptoms. He sent Mr. Mackie for a few physical therapy visits but felt no neurosurgical treatment was necessary.

In addition to his 2016 medical records, Mr. Mackie submitted more recent records from FNP Mitchell. Her note of April 9, 2018, reflects complaints of ongoing, throbbing pain in Mr. Mackie’s mid-back with tingling in his fingers. FNP Mitchell also noted swelling in his cervical/thoracic paraspinous muscles.

Both parties submitted causation opinions. Mr. Mackie offered a September 2017 letter by FNP Mitchell. She stated she saw him twelve times since July 2016 and his symptoms consistently included worsening thoracic pain with radicular pain and numbness. She concluded, “It is my opinion that his injury was caused by his work accident. He didn’t have these symptoms prior to the injury.” Dr. Gertrude Stone signed her name underneath FNP Mitchell’s signature.

Nationwide sent a causation questionnaire to Dr. Moran asking him to review Mr. Mackie’s medical records. It asked: “[C]an you state within a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Mr. Mackie’s current complaints of back pain, primarily arose out of (i.e. more than 50%) his alleged work-injury of May 10, 2016, at Nationwide, Express, Inc.?” Dr. Moran checked the “No” box.

Nationwide sent a similar questionnaire to Dr. Kumar about Mr. Mackie’s “current complaints of right upper quadrant pain and shortness of breath.” Dr. Kumar also responded “No.”

Mr. Mackie requested that the Court order Nationwide to provide additional medical treatment, payment of his past medical bills, and payment of temporary disability benefits.

Nationwide countered that Mr. Mackie is not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. It contended that his failure to provide timely notice bars his claim. Further, Nationwide argued that Mr. Mackie failed to establish that he is likely to prove that his

3 work was the primary cause of his condition.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Mr. Mackie need not prove every element of his claim by a preponderance of the evidence in order to obtain relief at an expedited hearing. Instead, he must come forward with sufficient evidence from which this Court might determine he is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-239(d)(1) (2017); McCord v. Advantage Human Resourcing, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 6, at *7-8, 9 (Mar. 27, 2015).

Notice

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

§ 50-6-102
Tennessee § 50-6-102(14)
§ 50-6-204
Tennessee § 50-6-204
§ 50-6-239
Tennessee § 50-6-239(d)(1)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 TN WC 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mackie-james-v-nationwide-logistics-llc-tennworkcompcl-2018.