NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
March 2022
Tennessee Returns to In-Person Settlements
Since the establishment of the Tennessee Court of Workers’
Compensation Claims in 2014, the Court followed a strict rule that settlement
approval hearings should be conducted in-person. Telephone hearings were only permitted under
extraordinary circumstances. Workers’ Compensation Judges have a duty to ensure
that settlements provide injured workers with substantially the benefits to
which they are entitled under Tennessee law, and to ensure that settlements are
in the injured workers’ best interests. The Court has long believed that
in-person settlement approval hearings were the best way to fulfill this duty,
since it allowed Judges to see the workers, listen to them, and observe their
non-verbal communication.
Of course, that was until the COVID-19 pandemic. The
pandemic forced the Court to quickly change direction and to start conducting
settlement approval hearings by telephone. Though not as effective as in-person
hearings, they were a necessity under the circumstances.
Fortunately, effective April 4, 2022, the Court will return
to in-person settlement approvals. This will be the primary method for
settlement approvals, just like before the pandemic. Exceptions will be made only upon request and
for good cause shown.
The Court has rolled out the procedure for scheduling
in-person settlement approval hearings at each of the Court’s offices
throughout the state of Tennessee. For
more detail, see the Court’s recent announcement via Blog: https://wccourt.com/2022/03/15/returning-to-in-person-settlements-2/
For any questions, please contact:
Fredrick R. Baker, Member
Wimberly Lawson Wright Daves & Jones, PLLC
1420 Neal Street, Suite 201
P.O. Box 655
Cookeville, TN 38503-0655
Phone: 931-372-9123
Fax: 931-372-9181
fbaker@wimberlylawson.com
www.wimberlylawson.com