BRB No. 97-0776 BLA
ONA ENGLE )
(Widow of JUNIOR ENGLE) )
)
Claimant-Petitioner )
)
v. ) DATE ISSUED:01/15/1998
)
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' )
COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED )
STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR )
)
Respondent ) DECISION and ORDER
Appeal of the Decision and Order of Robert L. Hillyard, Administrative Law
Judge, United States Department of Labor.
Ona Engle, Wooton, Kentucky, pro se.
Jill M. Otte (Marvin Krislov, Deputy Solicitor for National Operations;
Donald S. Shire, Associate Solicitor; Rae Ellen Frank James, Deputy
Associate Solicitor; Richard A. Seid and Michael J. Rutledge, Counsel for
Administrative Litigation and Legal Advice), Washington, D.C., for the
Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, the United States
Department of Labor.
Before: HALL, Chief Administrative Appeals Judge, SMITH and BROWN,
Administrative Appeals Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Claimant appeals, without the aid of counsel, the Decision and Order (95-BLA-1046) of Administrative Law Judge Robert L. Hillyard denying benefits on a
survivor's claim filed pursuant to the provisions of Title IV of the Federal
Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, as amended, 30 U.S.C. §901 et
seq. (the Act).[1] The administrative law
judge found thirty-nine years of coal mine employment established and
adjudicated the survivor's claim pursuant to 20 C.F.R. Part 718.[2] The administrative law judge found that the
existence of pneumoconiosis was not established pursuant to 20 C.F.R.
§718.202(a)(1)-(4), Decision and Order at 11-15, that total disability was
not established pursuant to 20 C.F.R. §718.204(c)(1)-(4), Decision and
Order at 16-17, and, ultimately, that death due to pneumoconiosis was not
established pursuant to 20 C.F.R. §718.205(c), Decision and Order at 16-18.
Accordingly, benefits were denied. Claimant's appeal, herein, followed. The
Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, [the Director] responds,
urging that the administrative law judge's Decision and Order denying benefits
be affirmed.
In an appeal filed by a claimant without the aid of counsel, the Board will
consider the issue raised to be whether the Decision and Order below is
supported by substantial evidence, see Hodges v. BethEnergy Mines, Inc.,
18 BLR 1-85 (1994); McFall v. Jewell Ridge Coal Corp., 12 BLR 1-176
(1985). If the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the administrative
law judge are supported by substantial evidence, are rational, and are
consistent with applicable law, they are binding upon this Board and may not be
disturbed. 33 U.S.C. §921(b)(3), as incorporated into the Act by 30 U.S.C.
§932(a); O'Keeffe v. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc., 380
U.S. 359 (1965).
In order to establish entitlement in this survivor's claim filed after
January 1, 1982, in which the miner had not been awarded benefits on a claim
filed prior to January 1, 1982, see 30 U.S.C. §§901; 932(1),
claimant must establish the existence of pneumoconiosis, see 20 C.F.R.
§718.202; Trumbo v. Reading Anthracite Co., 17 BLR 1-85 (1993);
Neeley v. Director, OWCP, 11 BLR 1-85 (1988), and that the miner's death
was due to pneumoconiosis, see 20 C.F.R. §§718.1; 718.205(c);
Neeley, supra; cf. Smith v. Camco Mining, Inc., 13 BLR 1-17 (1989), which
arose out of coal mine employment, see 20 C.F.R. §718.203; Boyd
v. Director, OWCP, 11 BLR 1-39 (1988). Moreover, the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, wherein this case arises, has held that, pursuant
to Section 718.205(c)(2), pneumoconiosis substantially contributes to death if
it hastens the miner's death, see Brown v. Rock Creek Mining Co., Inc.,
996 F.2d 812, 17 BLR 2-135 (6th Cir. 1993); see also Griffith v. Director,
OWCP, 49 F.3d 184, 19 BLR 2-111 (6th Cir. 1995).
The administrative law judge considered all of the relevant evidence under
Section 718.205(c) and found it insufficient to establish death due to
pneumoconiosis. The relevant evidence includes the opinion of the miner's
treating physician, Dr. Yalamanchi, who completed the miner's death certificate,
Director's Exhibit 6, which attributed the immediate cause of the miner's death
to acute myocardial infarction, but also listed pneumoconiosis as an underlying
cause of the miner's death. Dr. Yalamanchi subsequently completed a statement
that the miner had
pneumoconiosis, that part of the miner's heart problems "could" be due to his
lung disease and that pneumoconiosis contributed to the miner's heart disease
partly and is the cause of the miner's death, Claimant's Exhibit 2. The record
also includes the miner's hospital records completed by Dr. Yalamanchi relating
to the miner's hospitalization just prior to his death in February, 1992, in
which Dr. Yalamanchi diagnoses pneumoconiosis and states that the miner died
from ventricular tachycardia, Director's Exhibit 13. Hospital records relating
to prior hospitalizations of the miner dating from June, 1989, through January,
1992, completed by Dr. Yalamanchi do not mention any evidence of pneumoconiosis,
id.
In addition, Dr. Abalos completed the miner's autopsy report, Director's
Exhibit 7, in which he notes finding anthracotic pigments as wells as blackish
colored streakings and diagnoses anthracosis. Finally, Dr. Naeye, a
pathologist, Director's Exhibit 8, and Dr. Broudy, a board-certified physician
in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine, Director's Exhibits 22, 24,
reviewed the medical and autopsy evidence and found no evidence of coal workers'
pneumoconiosis and/or pneumoconiosis and, therefore, that it did not hasten the
miner's death and/or caused or contributed to the miner's death.
The administrative law judge noted that, although Dr. Yalamanchi initially
diagnosed pneumoconiosis in the discharge summary relating to the miner's
hospitalization just prior to his death in February, 1992, Dr. Yalamanchi stated
that the miner died from ventricular tachycardia, but did not explain how or if
pneumoconiosis
affected the miner's heart condition and did not mention pneumoconiosis in any
of the previous hospital records he completed relating to the miner's prior
hospitalizations, Director's Exhibit 13. Decision and Order at 9, 14, 17. The
administrative law judge found that Dr. Yalamanchi did not explain any basis for
and/or provide any reasoning or documentation to support his diagnosis of
pneumoconiosis, Decision and Order at 13-14, 17, or his conclusion on the
miner's death certificate and in his subsequent opinion that pneumoconiosis was
the underlying cause of the miner's death, Decision and Order at 14, 16-17.
Moreover, the administrative law judge found Dr. Yalamanchi's opinion stating
that part of the miner's heart problems "could" be due to his lung disease and
then concluding that pneumoconiosis contributed to the miner's heart disease
partly and caused the miner's death, Claimant's Exhibit 2, was equivocal,
Decision and Order at 16-17. Thus, the administrative law judge found that Dr.
Yalamanchi's opinion was not adequately documented or reasoned and, therefore,
despite the fact that he was the miner's treating physician, gave his opinion
little weight, Decision and Order at 13, 17.
In addition, the administrative law judge also properly found that Dr.
Abalos did not state whether the anthracosis he diagnosed contributed to, caused
or affected the miner's death in any way, Decision and Order at 8, 17. Finally,
the administrative law judge found that the opinions of Drs. Naeye and Broudy
that the miner did not have pneumoconiosis and, therefore, that it did not
contribute to the miner's death to be reasoned and documented, Decision and
Order at 13, 15-17.
It is for the administrative law judge, as the trier-of-fact, to determine
whether an opinion is documented and reasoned, see Clark v. Karst-Robbins
Coal Co., 12 BLR 1-149 (1989); Fields v. Island Creek Coal Co., 10
BLR 1-19 (1987); Lucostic v. United States Steel Corp., 8 BLR 1-46
(1985), and the Board is not empowered to reweigh the evidence nor substitute
its inferences for those of the administrative law judge, see Anderson v.
Valley Camp of Utah, Inc., 12 BLR 1-111 (1989); Worley v. Blue Diamond
Coal Co., 12 BLR 1-20 (1988). Moreover, an administrative law judge may
properly question an opinion, such as Dr. Yalamanchi's medical opinion, that is,
as the administrative law judge found, equivocal or qualified, see Justice v.
Island Creek Coal Co., 11 BLR 1-91 (1988). Thus, as the administrative law
judge found, inasmuch as Dr. Yalamanchi's status as the miner's treating
physician is just one of the factors to be considered in rendering his decision,
see Tedesco v. Director, OWCP, 18 BLR 1-103 (1994), we affirm the
administrative law judge's finding that Dr. Yalamanchi's opinion that
pneumoconiosis was the underlying cause of the miner's death as expressed in the
miner's death certificate was not adequately documented and reasoned, see
generally Willis v. Birchfield Mining Co., 15 BLR 1-59 (1991), and affirm
the administrative law judge's crediting of the contrary opinions from Drs.
Naeye and Broudy as documented and reasoned.
In addition, inasmuch as there is no evidence of complicated pneumoconiosis
in the record, the irrebuttable presumption at Section 411(c)(3) of the Act, 30
U.S.C. §921(c)(3), as implemented by 20 C.F.R. §718.304, is, as the
administrative law judge properly found, inapplicable, see 20 C.F.R.
§§718.205(c)(3), 718.304. Decision and Order at 16. Moreover, the
presumptions at Section 411(c)(2) of the Act, 30 U.S.C. §921(c)(2), as
implemented by 20 C.F.R. §718.303, at Section 411(c)(4) of the Act, 30
U.S.C. §921(c)(4), as implemented by 20 C.F.R. §718.305, and at
Section 411(c)(5) of the Act, 30 U.S.C. §921(c)(5), as implemented by 20
C.F.R. §718.306, are also inapplicable to this survivor's claim filed after
January 1, 1982, see 30 U.S.C. §921(c)(2), (c)(5); 20 C.F.R.
§718.303(c); 20 C.F.R. §718.305(a), (e); Director's Exhibit 1. Thus,
we affirm the administrative law judge's finding that death due to
pneumoconiosis was not established pursuant to Section 718.205(c).
Consequently, inasmuch as claimant failed to establish death due to
pneumoconiosis, a requisite element of entitlement in this survivor's claim,
entitlement on the survivor's claim is precluded, see Neeley, supra;
Smith, supra.[3]
Accordingly, the Decision and Order of the administrative law judge denying
benefits is affirmed.
SO ORDERED.
BETTY JEAN HALL, Chief
Administrative Appeals Judge
ROY P. SMITH
Administrative Appeals Judge
JAMES F. BROWN
Administrative Appeals Judge
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Footnotes.
1)Claimant is the surviving widow of the miner, Junior Engle,
who died on February 14, 1992, Director's Exhibit 6. The miner had originally
filed a living miner's claim which was ultimately denied by the Department of
Labor on July 5, 1983, Director's Exhibit 22. No further action was taken on
the miner's claim and it is not at issue herein. Subsequent to the miner's
death, claimant filed a survivor's claim on May 18, 1994, Director's Exhibit 1.
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2)Inasmuch as the administrative law judge found that the
miner's coal mine employment occurred in Tennessee and Kentucky, the
administrative law judge found that the instant case arises within the
jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, see
Shupe v. Director, OWCP, 12 BLR 1-200 (1989)(en banc). Decision and
Order at 3. Although claimant contends that the miner was never employed in
Tennessee and that his last coal mine employment occurred in Kentucky, any error
by the administrative law judge in this regard is harmless inasmuch as the
instant case would still arise within the jurisdiction of the Sixth Circuit
court, see Shupe, supra; see also Larioni v. Director, OWCP, 6 BLR 1-1276
(1984).
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3)Inasmuch as we affirm the administrative law judge's finding
that death due to pneumoconiosis was not established pursuant to Section
718.205(c), we need not address the administrative law judge's findings pursuant
to Section 718.202(a)(1)-(4), see Neeley, supra; Smith, supra. Moreover,
any error by the administrative law judge in addressing whether total disability
was established pursuant to Section 718.204(c) was harmless, see Larioni,
supra.
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NOTE: This is an UNPUBLISHED BLA Document.
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