Tennessee: Farmer’s Lung Contracted From Conditions on Property Adjacent to and Not Owned by Employer Still Compensable

A Tennessee appellate court held that in connection with an occupational disease claim, an employee need not show that the exposure or risk is related to a substance that emanates from the employer; it is sufficient to show that the exposure or risk is “connected to” the employment. Accordingly, where an employee contracted a lung condition while working as a forklift operator for his employer and medical evidence indicated the condition—farmer’s lung—was caused not by any conditions created by the employer, but rather though exposure to grain dust produced by a grain facility adjacent to the employer’s property, the employee could nevertheless recover benefits related to that condition. The employer had acknowledged that the condition had been contracted in the course of the employment, but argued it had not arisen from the employment, due to conditions beyond the employer’s control.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Plotner v. Metal Prep, 2014 Tenn. LEXIS 677 (Sept. 29, 2014) [2014 Tenn. LEXIS 677 (Sept. 29, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 4.01 [4.01]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

For more information about LexisNexis products and solutions connect with us through our corporate site