KENNETH R. WATSON v. AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC, ET AL. - Articles

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KENNETH R. WATSON v. AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC, ET AL.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on May 25, 2022

Court: TN Workers Comp Appeals Board

Attorneys 1: W. Troy Hart and Kristen C. Stevenson, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the employer-appellant, Amazon.com Services, LLC.

Attorneys 2: Denny E. Mobbs, Cleveland, Tennessee, for the employee-appellee, Kenneth R. Watson.

Judge(s): CONNER

The employee, a warehouse worker, reported experiencing neck pain while operating a reach truck and looking up repetitively. After reporting his symptoms to the employer, the employee was evaluated by a panel-selected physician, who recommended surgery but concluded the employee’s cervical spine condition did not arise primarily out of the employment. Thereafter, the employer filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting it had negated an essential element of the employee’s claim and had established the employee’s evidence of causation was insufficient as a matter of law. In response, the employee attacked the factual basis of the physician’s causation opinion but did not offer a countervailing expert opinion. The trial court denied the employer’s motion for summary judgment, concluding the employee had raised one or more genuine issues of material fact concerning the factual basis of the physician’s causation opinion, and the employer appealed. We affirm the trial court’s order and remand the case.

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