Barnes v. Electrolux

Summary

The Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims ordered Electrolux to provide Edwin Barnes with recommended left-shoulder surgery after finding that he was likely to prevail at a final hearing on the compensability of his workplace injury. The court held that the authorized treating physician’s causal opinion and surgical recommendation established the likely entitlement to medical benefits, despite Barnes’s prior shoulder history. The court denied Barnes’s request for attorney’s fees at that time and set a status hearing.

Holdings

1. Barnes met his burden of showing that he was likely to prevail at a final hearing, and Electrolux was required to provide the shoulder surgery recommended by the authorized treating physician, Dr. Moore.
2. Barnes was not entitled to an attorney's fee at that time because the limited circumstances warranting an interlocutory fee award were not present.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Barnes established that he was likely to prevail at a final hearing and was therefore entitled to the recommended shoulder surgery at an expedited hearing.
2. Whether Barnes was entitled to an attorney's fee for Electrolux's alleged unreasonable failure to initiate medical benefits.

Disposition

other