Ex Parte Vongsouvanh

Jimmy Vongsouvanh filed a workers' compensation complaint against his employer, Steel Processors, Inc., seeking permanent-total-disability ("PTD") benefits for mental disorders he claimed to have suffered following a work-related injury. Steel Processors, Inc., does not question whether the accident itself was work-related. Nor does it dispute whether the physical injuries Vongsouvanh suffered were work-related. Instead, it challenges the compensability of his mental disorders, which developed after the accident.

Although the trial court found in favor of Vongsouvanh and awarded him…