Masters v. Industrial Garments Manufacturing Co.
The plaintiff employee, Jessie Lee Masters, sought worker's compensation benefits for a 50% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole, attributed to a back injury sustained while lifting bundles on the job in April 1977. The defendant employer appealed the Chancery Court's decree, challenging the finding of an employment-related injury and compliance with notice provisions. Although medical evidence from Dr. Ronald Rosenthal supported the causation and permanency of her chronic lumbosacral strain superimposed on preexisting degenerative arthritis, the Supreme Court determined that Masters failed to provide the employer with sufficient actual knowledge of an injury as required by T.C.A., § 50-1001. The court emphasized that merely requesting a 'bundle boy' due to strenuous work did not constitute proper notice of an injury claim. Consequently, the judgment in favor of the plaintiff was reversed, and her suit was dismissed.