Collins v. Howmet Corp.

OPINION

BIRCH, Justice.

In this workers’ compensation action, the employer, Howmet Corporation, appealed from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Hamblen County finding that the employee, Brenda Collins, sustained a seventy percent permanent vocational disability to the body as a whole due to a work-related back injury. The case was referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel for findings of fact and conclusions of law, pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(5). The Panel reduced the award from seventy percent permanent vocational disability to fifty per cent. In doing so the…