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Parties Involved:
Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor
Respondent
Keith R. Jones
Not Party
Kaiser Steel Corporation
Petitioner

Document Text:

Pl LED 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALeoited Sce.tt~·u»irt of Appeals 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

KAISER STEEL CORPORATION, 

Petitioner, 

v. 

DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' 

COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED STATES 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 

and 

KEITH R. JONES, 

Respondents. 

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ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

ienth Circuit 

FEB 12 1991 

· . ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

No. 89-9551 

(B.R.B. No. 86-1103-B) 

(Petition for Review 

of an Order of the 

Department of Labor 

Benefits Review Board) 

Before McKAY, SEYMOUR, and EBEL, Circuit Judges. 

In this appeal,1 petitioner Kaiser Steel Corporation 

challenges the propriety of benefits awarded pursuant to Title IV 

of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, 

30 u.s.c. ss 901-45 (as amended)(l988)(Act), which provides 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall 

not be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, 

except for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of 

the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppal. 10th Cir. R. 

36.3. 

1 After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 

34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is therefore ordered 

submitted without oral argument. 

Appellate Case: 89-9551 Document: 010110099936 Date Filed: 02/12/1991 Page: 1 
I 

• 

benefits to miners who are totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis, 

a chronic dust disease of the lung and its sequelae arising out of 

coal mine employment. See 20 C.F.R. S 727.201, .202 (1990). We 

affirm. 

Background 

This case arose in 1974 when Keith Jones filed a claim for 

benefits pursuant to the Act. At the request of Jones' employer, 

the Kaiser Steel Corporation, the Department of Labor referred the 

claim to an administrative law judge (ALJ) for a formal hearing. 

Because the hearing concerned a claim filed before April 1, 1980, 

it was conducted pursuant to the regulations and standards stated 

at 20 C.F.R. pt. 727 (1990). See id. at S 718.l(b). 2 

At the 1980 hearing, Kaiser conceded that Jones had been 

employed as a coal miner for thirty years and that he was totally 

disabled from chronic respiratory or pulmonary disease. Based on 

these concessions, the ALJ found that Jones was entitled to the 

interim presumption stated in section 727.203(a): 

A miner who engaged in coal mine employment for at 

least 10 years will be presumed to be totally disabled 

due to pneumoconiosis ... arising out of that 

employment, if one of the following medical conditions 

is met: 

(4) [M]edical evidence ... establishes the presence of 

a totally disabling respiratory or pulmonary impairment. 

As relevant to this appeal, this presumption concerning the cause 

of the claimant's disability is rebutted if "[t]he evidence 

establishes that the total disability or death of the miner did 

2 All section 

otherwise noted. 

references are 

2 

to 20 C.F.R. (1990) unless 

Appellate Case: 89-9551 Document: 010110099936 Date Filed: 02/12/1991 Page: 2 
not arise in whole or in part out of coal mine employment." Id. 

at S 727.203(b)(3). Given Kaiser's concessions, therefore, the 

primary issue to be decided by the ALJ was whether the evidence 

presented rebutted the regulatory presumption that Jones' 

respiratory or pulmonary disease arose in whole or in part out of 

his coal mine employment. See id. 

Kaiser relied primarily on the testimony of Dr. Attilio 

Renzetti to rebut the interim presumption. He testified, based on 

two physical examinations of Jones, X-ray evidence and Jones' 

thirty-year history of cigarette smoking, that Jones was totally 

disabled as a result of emphysema caused by cigarette smoking and 

that this disease was not significantly related to and had not 

been aggravated by dust exposure during his coal mine employment. 

Tr. 119-21, 168. Jones countered this evidence with the opinion 

of Dr. John K. Wright, Jones' treating physician of eighteen 

years, that Jones' pulmonary disease "probably" related to his 

coal mine employment. Director's Ex. 20. 

After considering this and other evidence, the ALJ concluded 

that Kaiser had not succeeded in rebutting the interim presumption 

because Dr. Renzetti's testimony was equivocal and hence 

insufficient as a matter of law to rebut the presumption regarding 

the cause of Jones' illness. Jones v. Kaiser Steel Corp., 

No. 80-BLA-370, Decision and Order at 7 (U.S. Dept. of Labor 

July 3, 1980). Kaiser appealed this decision to the United States 

Department of Labor Benefits Review Board (Board), 3 which remanded 

3 Jones died during this period, leaving the Director of the 

Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs as 

3 

(continued on next page) 

Appellate Case: 89-9551 Document: 010110099936 Date Filed: 02/12/1991 Page: 3 
• the rebuttal issue to the ALJ upon determining that Dr. Renzetti's 

opinion regarding the cause of Jones' disability was not, in fact, 

equivocal. Jones v. Kaiser Steel Corp., B.R.B. No. 80-890 BLA, 

Decision and Order (U.S. Dept. of Labor Ben. Rev. Bd. Oct. 29, 

1985), reprinted in 8 Black Lung Rep. (MB) 1-339 (1985). In so 

doing, the Board specifically rejected Kaiser's contention that 

Dr. Renzetti's opinion testimony rebutted the causation 

presumption as a matter of law. Id. at 3. Instead, the Board 

stated only that Dr. Renzetti's opinion could, if accorded 

sufficient weight, rebut the interim presumption, but that this 

determination could only be made after the ALJ weighed the 

conflicting opinion of Dr. Wright. Id. The Board further found 

Dr. Wright's opinion to be documented and reasoned and hence 

capable of sustaining a finding of no rebuttal. See id. at 3 & 

n.5. 

On remand, the ALJ again awarded Jones benefits upon finding 

that Kaiser had failed to rebut the interim presumption that 

Jones' pulmonary disease was in some measure related to his 

exposure to coal dust. Jones v. Kaiser Steel Corp., 

B.R.B. No. 80-890 BLA, Decision and Order on Remand (U.S. Dept. of 

Labor Mar. 28, 1986). In support of this conclusion, the ALJ 

cited Dr. Wright's opinion, as Jones' longtime treating physician, 

that coal dust exposure was a probable cause of Jones' condition. 

Id. at 2-3. The ALJ considered Dr. Renzetti's contrary opinion in 

(continued from previous page) 

the real party in interest in this case. The Director's primary 

interest in this matter is apparently to obtain reimbursement for 

funds advanced to Jones and his survivors from the Black Lung 

Disability Trust Fund. 

4 

Appellate Case: 89-9551 Document: 010110099936 Date Filed: 02/12/1991 Page: 4 
reaching his conclusion, but gave greater weight to Dr. Wright's 

opinion because of his long familiarity with Jones' employment and 

medical histories. Id. 

Kaiser appealed the ALJ's second decision to the Board, and 

the Board affirmed. Jones v. Kaiser Steel Corp., 

B.R.B. No. 86-1103 BLA, Decision and Order (U.S. Dept. of Labor 

Ben. Rev. Bd. July 28, 1989). Kaiser timely appealed to this 

court pursuant to 33 u.s.c. S 92l(c)(1988). 

Discussion 

In reviewing a decision to award benefits under the Act, we 

must determine whether the benefits decision is supported by 

substantial evidence in the record as a whole and is in accordance 

with law. Mangus v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation 

Programs, 882 F.2d 1527, 1532 (10th Cir. 1989); Velasquez v. 

Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 835 F.2d 262, 

264 (10th Cir. 1987). Substantial evidence is "such relevant 

evidence as a reasonable person might accept as adequate to 

support a conclusion." Kaiser Steel Corp. v. Director, Office of 

Workers' Compensation Programs (Sainz), 748 F.2d 1426, 1430 

(10th Cir. 1984)(quoting Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 

305 U.S. 197, 229 (1938)). 

In seeking to rebut the interim presumption, Kaiser bore the 

heavy burden of proving that there was no causal relationship 

between Jones' coal mine employment and his pulmonary disease. 

See S 727.203(b)(3); Mangus, 882 F.2d at 1529; Kaiser Steel Corp. 

v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (Sena), 

757 F.2d 1078, 1083-84 (10th Cir. 1985); Bethlehem Mines Corp. v. 

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Massey, 736 F.2d 120, 123 (4th Cir. 1984); Palmer Coking Coal Co. 

v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 

720 F.2d 1054, 1058 (9th Cir. 1983). Kaiser's primary contention 

on appeal is that Dr. Renzetti's testimony carried this burden and 

should have been credited over Dr. Wright's conflicting opinion 

that a probable link existed between Jones' coal mining employment 

and his disability. In support of this contention, Kaiser 

contrasts the detail of Dr. Renzetti's reports and testimony with 

the relatively brief reported opinion of Dr. Wright and argues 

that Dr. Renzetti was at least as familiar with Jones' medical and 

employment histories as was Dr. Wright. In this circuit, however, 

substantial weight must be given to the opinion of a claimant's 

treating physician unless good case is shown to the contrary. 

Micheli v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 

846 F.2d 632, 636 (10th Cir. 1988). Here, Dr. Wright's opinion 

concerning the cause of Jones' disability, based as it was on 

physical examinations, venilatory studies, chest X-rays and long 

familiarity with Jones' employment and personal histories, 

constituted a "reasoned medical judgment" entitled to full 

consideration by the ALJ. See Taylor v. Alabama By-Products 

Corp., 862 F.2d 1529, 1533 (11th Cir. 1989). The possibility that 

another finder of fact, viewing the relative detail of 

Dr. Renzetti's conclusions and his familiarity with Jones' medical 

and employment histories, might give greater weight to 

Dr. Renzetti's opinion as to causation does not constitute good 

cause to discredit Dr. Wright's opinion or change the fact that 

Dr. Wright's opinion constitutes substantial evidence supporting 

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? 

the ALJ's finding of no rebuttal. See Black Diamond Coal Mining 

Co. v. Benefits Review Bd., 758 F.2d 1532, 1534 (11th Cir. 

1985)("That a different conclusion might be reached from the same 

evidence is insufficient reason to overturn the result.") 

Accordingly, we find no error in the Board's award of benefits in 

this case. 

In so holding, we have considered and rejected Kaiser's other 

challenges to the ALJ and Board decisions. We find no 

inconsistency, for example, in the Board's initial determination 

that Dr. Renzetti's testimony could, "if accorded sufficient 

weight," support a finding of rebuttal and its affirmance of the 

ALJ's subsequent "no rebuttal" decision based on Dr. Wright's 

opinion. See Jones v. Kaiser Steel Corp., B.R.B. No. 80-890 BLA, 

Decision and Order at 3 & n.5 (U.S. Dept. of Labor Ben. Rev. Bd. 

July 3, 1980). In addition, we find that the ALJ properly 

accepted and considered Dr. Renzetti's testimony in determining 

whether Kaiser had rebutted the interim presumption. 4 See 

Tennessee Consol. Coal Co. v. Crisp~ 866 F.2d 179, 185 (6th Cir. 

1989)(although the ALJ must accept and consider the documented 

opinion of a physician exercising medical judgment, the ALJ 

retains "his essential fact-finding function when medical 

testimony is conflicting or otherwise in dispute"). We also find 

no ground for reversal in the Board's refinement of the standard 

4 We also reject Kaiser's contention that the ALJ and Board's 

consideration of and citation to this evidence and the record as a 

whole violated the Administrative Procedures Act, 

5 U.S.C. S 557(c)(3)(A)(1988). 

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for rebuttal during the course of this proceeding. 5 Finally, we 

find no error in the Board's ultimate reliance on the 

well-established rule that an employer seeking to rebut the 

interim presumption pursuant to section 727.203(b)(3) must rule 

out any causal connection between the claimant's coal mining 

employment and his or her pulmonary or respiratory disease. See 

Mangus, 882 F.2d at 1529 & n.4 (citing cases). 

Accordingly, we AFFIRM the decision of the United States 

Department of Labor Benefits Review Board awarding benefits to 

claimant Jones. 

ENTERED FOR THE COURT 

BY DAVID M. EBEL, CIRCUIT JUDGE 

5 As Kaiser admits, it suffered no prejudice as a result of the 

varying standards because it presented evidence, in the form of 

Dr. Renzetti's testimony, that met even the most stringent 

rebuttal standard employed by the ALJ and the Board. See Reply 

Brief of Kaiser Steel Corporation at 5 n.5. 

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