Yesterday, the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board released its decision in Ridley v. Mature Care of Standifer Place. The Board held oral arguments in the case last month at the Bureau’s Educational Conference before several hundred attendees.

The Appeals Board held oral arguments on June 13, 2024. Left to right, they are Judge Pele Godkin, Presiding Judge Timothy Conner, and Judge Meredith Weaver.

The issue was whether the employee is likely to prevail at a final hearing on her request for additional treatment and a panel of physicians in her new locale after moving. She alleged a back injury from work, but the authorized physician ultimately concluded that her condition was primarily related to a preexisting, degenerative condition and that she’d received all necessary treatment related to the work injury. The employee sought an evaluation from another physician, who stated the work accident was the primary cause of her condition and recommended pain management.

The trial court found that the treating physician’s opinion was inconsistent, determined the causation opinion of the employee’s expert rebutted the statutory presumption of correctness given to the authorized doctor’s opinion, and ordered the employer to provide a panel of pain management providers near the employee’s new residence. 

The Appeals Board reversed the trial court’s determination that the employee’s expert rebutted the causation opinion of the panel-selected physician. They modified the order for the employer to provide a new panel so that it need not be for pain management, and remanded the case.

We’ll be posting a more detailed summary of the opinion within the next week or so. But for now, here’s the opinion. All Educational Conference attendees will be emailed the opinion as well.

Defense attorney Connor Sestak argues his case, while plaintiff lawyer Mike Wagner looks on. Photos by Kyle Jones, communications program coordinator, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.