Kelley v. 3-M CO.

OPINION

FONES, Chief Justice.

The two issues raised by defendant in this worker’s compensation case are whether T.C.A. § 50-1023 as amended violates the equal protection clauses of both the Tennessee and United States Constitutions and whether the chancellor abused his discretion in commuting to a lump sum the weekly payments awarded to plaintiff as a result of her permanent partial disability. We uphold the constitutionality of the act as amended and affirm the chancellor’s order of the lump sum award.

Plaintiff was a thirty-year-old divorcee with a tenth grade education at the time of her 1980…