Court Rulings

Deborah Bain ("Employee") worked for UTI Integrated Logistics LLC ("Employer") as a shuttle truck driver. She sustained a compensable injury to her right shoulder and right wrist in August 2010 and entered into a settlement agreement with Employer. After returning to work, she suffered an injury to her left shoulder in January 2013. The trial court found that Employee is not permanently and totally disabled, that the 1.5 times cap applies for purposes of both reconsideration of the August 2010 injury and assessment of the January 2013 injury, that she has a 6% medical impairment rating for the January 2013 injury, and that Employer is not responsible for expenses related to treatment she sought on her own. Employee has appealed these rulings. Employer has appealed the trial court's award of further temporary total disability benefits. The appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 51. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants for, inter alia, breach of contract relating to the buyout of the plaintiff's oral surgery practice by the defendant K. In connection therewith, the parties exe- cuted three documents, including a purchase and sale agreement, an operating agreement and a supplementary agreement. Pursuant to those agreements, K paid the plaintiff two installments and subsequently became the manager of the practice. Pursuant to the supplementary agreement, the plaintiff could work a part-time schedule of his choosing and retire at the time of his choosing, provided that he retired by the age of eighty. The relationship between the plaintiff and K became strained, and K hired a new associate without the consent of the plaintiff and told the plaintiff he wanted him to retire in six weeks. Approximately one month after K paid the final installment due under the purchase and sale agreement, he had the locks on the doors of the practice changed. The plaintiff, believing he had been terminated, began seeing patients in other towns. The defendants ordered a street sign for the practice that included the plaintiff's name and kept the plaintiff's name on the practice's website and referral cards for approximately six months after the plaintiff left the practice. The plaintiff filed a nineteen count revised complaint in which he alleged claims for, inter alia, breach of contract pertaining to all three agreements, breach of the implied cove- nant of good faith and fair dealing relating to all three agreements, invasion of privacy, tortious interference with business expectancies, violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) (§ 42- 110a et seq.), and unjust enrichment. The defendants filed an eleven count counterclaim, alleging, inter alia, that the plaintiff had breached the operating agreement and the lease agreement between the plaintiff and the practice. After the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff