By Judge Brian Addington, Gray

It’s our traditional “tin or aluminum” anniversary today.

July 1 marks the tenth anniversary of the Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims.

The Court was established on July 1, 2014, with eight judges: Josh Baker, Pamela Johnson, Lisa Lowe, Allen Phillips, Kenneth Switzer, Jim Umsted, Tom Wyatt, and myself. The next year, we added four judges: Robert Durham, Audrey Headrick, Amber Luttrell, and Dale Tipps. Not long afterward, Deana Seymour took over for retiring Judge Umsted. She has since also retired, and Shaterra Marion now sits in Memphis.

The original Court members heard cases and approved settlements in Kingsport, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Jackson and Memphis. We then expanded to Cookeville and Murfreesboro. Eventually the Kingsport office moved to Gray, and the Court added off-site settlement approvals in Dresden, Morristown, Columbia and Clarksville.

We issue myriad orders on evidentiary and summary judgment motion hearings every year. Staff attorneys Jane Salem and Sarah Byrne edit most of them, in addition to their countless other duties.

At first the judges also ruled on pre-Reform Act cases as “specialist 4s.” Because those cases have dwindled, now one staff attorney, Traci Haynes, handles those cases. We also have a staff attorney in Memphis, Taylor Skees, because the volume of cases there is always high.

The Court also could not work without our Clerk, Penny Shrum, and her staff. Nor could we function without our paralegals and administrative staff, Tina Woods, Jodi Downs and Kim Weaver. All have been with us since day one.

Just a few figures for the past year. The Court approved 8,757 settlements, with the most approvals heard in Murfreesboro, Nashville and Memphis. We also held over 3,000 hearings in the ‘23-‘24 fiscal year.

Per the linked article at the beginning of this post, because tin and aluminum are “known for their resilience and inability to rust, they symbolize the durability of your marriage.” At ten years, we’re starting to feel durable and resilient around here.

We look forward to the next ten years and beyond, as we continue to serve the people of the great State of Tennessee. The faces will likely change in the coming years, but our dedication to the statements below will not.

“Our mission is to provide a fair, efficient, and professional system to employees and employers that will promote economic prosperity for all Tennesseans. Our vision is to operate the best workers’ compensation system in the Southeast. We operate with core values: unimpeachable ethics, honesty, superior customer service, devotion to the pursuit of excellence, impartiality, fairness, integrity and efficiency.”