Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/536/113/139380/
Timestamp: 2019-08-23 22:35:32
Document Index: 620438134

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 902', '§ 921', '§ 921', '§ 921', '§ 410', '§ 921', '§ 902', '§ 921']

Stella Adkins, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Health, Education, Andwelfare, Defendant-appellee, 536 F.2d 113 (6th Cir. 1976) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Sixth Circuit › 1976 › Stella Adkins, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Health, Education, Andwelfare...
Stella Adkins, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Health, Education, Andwelfare, Defendant-appellee, 536 F.2d 113 (6th Cir. 1976)
US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit - 536 F.2d 113 (6th Cir. 1976)
Argued Dec. 3, 1975. Decided May 25, 1976
As appellant recites in her brief, the Secretary has conceded that she is the widow of a deceased coal miner who worked in underground coal mining employment for more than 15 years. It is undisputed that she met the definition of "widow" under 30 U.S.C. § 902(e) in that she was dependent upon the deceased miner with whom she lived at the time of his death, and that she has not remarried. The only dispute is whether there is substantial evidence to support the Secretary's determination that the miner was not suffering from a "totally disabling respiratory or pulmonary impairment" at the time of his death. 30 U.S.C. § 921(c) (4). Neither party sought a remand to reopen the administrative record to present additional testimony when the cross-motions for summary judgment were filed in district court.
We recently examined the section of the Black Lung Benefit Act under which appellant seeks benefits in Ansel v. Weinberger, 529 F.2d 304 (6th Cir. 1976). In that case the coal miner himself sought benefits under the Act. Ansel sought to establish his entitlement to benefits by reliance upon 30 U.S.C. § 921(c) (4)1 which recites circumstances that create a rebuttable presumption of total disability due to pneumoconiosis. Ansel invoked § 921(c) (4) because he was unable to establish the existence of pneumoconiosis by a chest x-ray or biopsy under 20 C.F.R. § 410.428. We directed the entry of benefits after we determined that there was no substantial basis for the Secretary's conclusion (1) that Ansel suffered from cerebral arteriosclerosis and arteriosclerotic heart disease, or (2) that Ansel did not establish that he was totally disabled from a respiratory or pulmonary impairment. We pointed out that: "Once Claude Ansel produced evidence which entitled him to the presumption of section 921(c) (4), that presumption could be rebutted only by establishing that he did not have pneumoconiosis. . . ."
In order to be entitled to the benefit of the rebuttable presumption, a claimant must show that a miner had a "totally disabling respiratory or pulmonary impairment." 30 U.S.C. § 921(c) (4). Although lay witnesses suggested that the deceased miner had substantial breathing difficulty and that he coughed often, the medical statements submitted by the miner's family physician negative the existence of a totally disabling chronic respiratory or pulmonary impairment. The physician's determination on the death certificate was that the miner died of an acute coronary thrombosis. Although Dr. Perry treated the miner for shortness of breath and respiratory difficulty, his diagnosis at death was of coronary insufficiency and angina. In addition, there is other evidence in the record that the miner was not "totally disabled" within the meaning of the Act. 30 U.S.C. § 902(f). He was sufficiently active to engage in mining on a "regular full-time basis." We recognized in Farmer v. Weinberger, 519 F.2d 627 (6th Cir. 1975), that a coal miner's regularity of work and his proper performance of it could properly be considered as evidence supporting a denial of benefits. In this case it was also shown that on the day of the miner's death, he attended a picnic and later began to mow the grass in his yard. Upon this record, the Secretary's finding that appellant did not establish the existence of a "totally disabling chronic respiratory or pulmonary impairment" that would entitle her to the application of the rebuttable presumption that her husband was totally disabled and died from pneumoconiosis has substantial support.
30 U.S.C. § 921(c) (4) provides: