NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 14a0645n.06
No. 12

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UNITED STATES COURTS OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
PEABODY COAL COMPANY , Petitioner ,

v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR , and EVA ELIZABETH HILL, Respondents

. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ON PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BENEFITS REVIEW BOARD, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

BEFORE: DAUGHTREY , COOK , and WHITE , Circuit Judges. HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge. Peabody Coal Company (Peabody) petitions for
review of the Benefits Review Board’s (Board) grant of Petitioner Eva Hill’s (Hill) second claim
for survivor benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA), 30 U.S.C. §§ 901

– 44, as amended by § 1556 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Pub. L. No. 111

– 148, § 1556, 124 Stat. 119 (2010). We deny the petition. Hill is the widow of Arthur Hill, who passed away in May 2000 after working as a miner for forty

- one years
. Hill first filed a claim for survivor benefits on June 19, 2000. The Board
denied her claim for failure to show that her husband died “due to” pneumoconiosis, as then required under the BLBA. This court den ied her petition for review in 2004.No. 14

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Ham v. Sterling

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- In 2010, Congress enacted the ACA, § 1556 , which included a provision reinstat ing
30 U.S.C. § 932( l ) of the BLBA under which the eligible survivor of a miner who was determined eligible for benefits at the time of his death is automatically entitled to receive benefits, and need not prove that the miner died “due to” pneumoconiosis. The ACA
amendments to the BLBA a pply to “claims filed . . . . after January 1, 2005, that are pending on or after [March 23, 2010].” Pub. L. No. 111

– 148, §1556(c). In January 2011, after the ACA amendments took effect, Hill filed a second, or “subsequen t,” claim for survivor benefits; the
claim was granted, and the Board affirmed. On appeal, Peabody challenges the Board’s determination that the ACA amendments to
the BLBA apply to subsequent c laims filed by survivors after the denial of a prior claim. Construing § 1556 to apply to su rvivors’ subsequent claims , Peabody argues, reopens prior final decisions denying benefits and thereby violates the separation of powers, res judicata principles, and due process. This court’s decision in Consolidation Coal Co. v. Maynes , 739 F.3d 323, 32 5 (6th Cir. 2014) , filed after briefing concluded, disposes of Peabody’s arguments . In
Consolidation Coal , as here , the Board had denied a survivor’s original c laim for benefits on the ground that she could not demonstrate that her husband died “due to” pneumoconiosis . After enactment of the ACA, the survivor filed a subsequent claim for benefits under the reinstated § 932( l ), which the Board granted

. See id. at 326. On appeal, the coal com pany raised , and this court rejected, the same res judicata and separation

- of

- powers arguments Peabody raises here

. See id. at 3 29 (“[T] he Board ’ s decision to award benefits in response to [the survivor’s] subsequent claim did nothing to alter, undermine , disturb or overturn the Board’ s prior denial of her 2003 claim; n or does it challenge this Court’ s affirmance of that decision. ”)

. In the instant

case, Peabody raises the additional argument that the Board’s failure to give preclusive effect toNo. 14

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Ham v. Sterling

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- its denia l of the survivor’s original claim for benefits violates due process. But our conclusion that the Board’s decision does not offend principles of finality disposes of that argument too. See RAG Am. Coal Co. v. Office of Workers’ Comp. Programs , 576 F.3d 418, 428 n.6 (7th Cir. 2009) (dismissing a similar due

- process argument, stating “RAG’s claim that the refusal to apply ordinary principles of finality denies it due process of law is nothing more than a variation of its res judicata argument which we have already addressed ”).
Accordingly, we DENY the petition for review.