Alcoa, INC. with Helmsman a/k/a Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and its Third Party Administrator v. Walter H. Myers v. State of Tennessee and Arconic Corporation

This is a workers’ compensation action brought by Alcoa Inc., with Helmsman a/k/a Liberty Mutual Insurance Company as its Third Party Administrator (Plaintiff), against Walter H. Myers (Defendant). The Plaintiff seeks a judicial determination of the parties’ rights and obligations under the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-101 et seq., regarding an alleged work-related injury sustained by the Defendant on or about June 6, 2007. The parties previously exhausted the Benefit Review Conference process without reaching a settlement.

In addition, Walter H. Myers asserts a counterclaim against the original Plaintiff and a third-party claim against the State of Tennessee and Arconic Corporation. Through these claims, Myers seeks a declaratory judgment that multiple provisions of the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Reform Act of 2013 (Public Chapter 289) and related statutes are unconstitutional. His core argument is that the Act violates the Separation of Powers doctrine (Tenn. Const. art. II, §§ 1–2 and art. VI) by vesting exclusive original jurisdiction over workers’ compensation claims in an executive-branch administrative agency rather than an Article VI court.