Case ID: f-appx_100/html/0540-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Sandra WELLS, widow of David Wells, Petitioner, v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, Respondent.
    No. 03-4552.
    United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
    June 14, 2004.
    Leonard J. Stayton, Inez, KY, for Petitioner.
    
      Patricia Nece, Joanna Hull, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
    Before SILER, MOORE, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.
    
    
      
       The Honorable Bobby R. Baldock, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, sitting by designation.
    
   ORDER

The petitioner seeks review of a decision of the Benefits Review Board affirming the denial of survivor’s benefits under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. The Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, now concedes that the medical evidence established a causal link between the miner’s pneumoconiosis and his death and that the petitioner is entitled to an award of benefits. The Director moves to vacate the decisions of the Benefits Review Board and the administrative law judge and remand for an award of benefits. The petitioner does not oppose the motion for a remand. In light of the concessions of the Director, we conclude that a remand for an award of benefits is warranted.

Therefore, the Director’s motion to remand is GRANTED, the decisions of the Benefits Review Board and the administrative law judge are vacated, and this action is remanded for an award of benefits payable by the Black Lung Disability Fund.