Case ID: f-appx_189/html/0246-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Bennie E. STEPP, Plaintiff—Appellant, v. Michael H. HOLLAND; B.V. Hyler; Steve Schaab; Marty Hudson, Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan and Trust; United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan and Trust, Defendants—Appellees.
    No. 05-2433.
    United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
    Submitted: May 22, 2006.
    Decided: July 12, 2006.
    Jerome J. McFadden, Princeton, West Virginia, for Appellant. Glenda S. Finch, Deputy General Counsel, Christopher F. Clarke, Senior Assistant General Counsel, UMWA Health and Retirement Funds, Office of the General Counsel, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.
    Before MOTZ, TRAXLER, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
    Affirmed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
    Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c).
   PER CURIAM:

Bennie Stepp appeals from the district court’s opinion and order upholding the decision by the Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Trust denying disability benefits. Stepp asserts that the Trustees’ determination that there was no causal link between his mine injury and his disability constituted an abuse of discretion. After reviewing the record de novo, we find that the Trustees did not abuse their discretion in denying disability benefits. Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the district court. See Stepp v. Holland, No. 5:04-cv-01062, 2005 WL 3088384 (S.D.W.Va. Nov. 17, 2005). We dispense with oral arguments because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the Court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED.