USDOL
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RECENT SIGNIFICANT DECISIONS
Black Lung Benefits Act

Office of Administrative Law Judges
United States Department of Labor

MONTHLY DIGEST # 138
September 1998 - October 1998

James Guill
Associate Chief Judge for Longshore

Thomas M. Burke
Associate Chief Judge for Black Lung


    A. Circuit Courts of Appeal

   With regard to liability of a successor company, there is a case pending before the Third Circuit, C & K Coal Co. v. Taylor , Case No. 98-3151, where the issue is whether the ALJ properly found a successor operator primarily liable for the payment of benefits. Under the facts of Taylor , the miner worked less than one year for the successor operator, but his cumulative period of employment for the prior and the successor operators totaled more than one year.

[ employment for one year ]

   There are two cases pending before the Fourth Circuit General Trucking Corp. v. Salyers , Case No. 98-1009, and Gulf & Western Indus. v. Ling , Case No. 97-2107 where the issue is whether the medical benefits coverage presumption announced by the Fourth Circuit in Doris Coal Co. v. Director, OWCP [Stiltner] , 938 F.2d 492 (4th Cir. 1991) has been invalidated by the Supreme Court's holding in Director, OWCP v. Greenwich Collieries , 114 S. Ct. 2251 (1994). Oral arguments in these cases are tentatively scheduled for first week in December.

[ medical treatment disputes ]

   The Fourth and Eighth Circuits will be deciding cases where the issue is whether the surviving spouse and the surviving divorced spouse of a miner each are entitled to a full basic benefit on their respective survivors' claims. Oral argument has recently been heard in the case pending before the Fourth Circuit, Piney Mountain Coal Co. v. Mays , Case No. 97-2560. In Peabody Coal Co. v. Director, OWCP [Ricker] , Case No. 98-3263, which is pending before the Eighth Circuit, oral argument has not been set. It is noted that the Board has held that both the surviving spouse and the surviving divorced spouse were entitled to full benefits in the published decision of Piney Mountain Coal which is now pending before the Fourth Circuit.

[ survivors' benefits ]

    B. Benefits Review Board

   The Board recently heard Selak v. Wyoming Pocahontas Land Co. , BRB No. 97-0976 BLA where the issues are: (1) whether, pursuant to 20 C.F.R. § 725.310(b), it is within the district director's discretion to order an evaluation of the claimant where the employer has filed a petition for modification; and (2) whether 20 C.F.R. § 718.404(b), which applies where a miner who is found entitled to benefits obtains other employment, has any impact upon the issue of ordering a re-examination in a modification proceeding.

[ ordering examination on modification ]