Clayton v. Pizza Hut, Inc.

OPINION

COOPER, Chief Justice.

In this interlocutory appeal, the issue is whether an employee injured during the course and scope of her employment may bring an action in tort against her employer when the injury causes disfigurement, but does not result in permanent disablement or death of the employee.

Angela Clayton, a waitress at Pizza Hut Restaurant in Johnson City, was severely burned on the abdomen, when a coffee pot she was carrying in the course and scope of her employment came apart. She filed an action against her employer, Pizza Hut, and against the distributor of the coffee…