RECENT SIGNIFICANT DECISIONS
Black Lung Benefits Act
Office of Administrative Law Judges
United States Department of Labor
MONTHLY DIGEST # 127
November 1996 - January 1997
James Guill
Associate Chief Judge for Longshore
Thomas M. Burke
Acting Associate Chief Judge for Black Lung
Benefits Review Board
By unpublished decision in Mullins v. Betty B Coal Co. , BRB No. 95-1149 (May 14, 1996)(unpublished), the Board held that "while the administrative law judge may take judicial notice of the attorneys' customary hourly rates" contained in the Altman & Weil Survey of Law Firm Economics, a copy of the Survey was not in the record and the case was remanded with instructions that the administrative law judge "explain his basis for utilizing the northeast standard in setting the hourly rate for legal services rendered in Virginia."
- [ 26.11, use of Altman & Weil Survey of Law Firm Economics ]