TWCA Reviews Whether the Trial Court Properly Excluded an MIR Report in a Worker’s Compensation Case

STEVEN WILLIAMS v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE ET AL. (TWCA September 28, 2010)

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel. An employee who sustained a compensable injury to his left knee in 2006 filed suit in the Chancery Court for Wilson County seeking to recover benefits for an additional injury to his right knee allegedly caused by over-reliance on his right leg as a result of the earlier injury to his left knee. The employer denied liability and sought to introduce at trial a Medical Impairment Registry ("MIR") report prepared in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 50-6-204(d)(5) (Supp. 2009).

The trial court sustained the employee's objection to the introduction of the MIR report. Following a bench trial, the trial court determined that the 2006 injury to the employee's left knee was compensable and awarded the employee 27% permanent partial impairment to each leg.

On this appeal, the employer asserts that the trial court erred by excluding the MIR report, by finding that the injury to the employee's right knee was a new, compensable injury, and by basing its award on the impairment rating of the employee's physician. We affirm the judgment.

Opinion available at:
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/2010/williamss_092810.pdf