Opinion ID: 537072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plain Language of the Black Lung Regulation

Text: 19 The black lung procedural regulations also provide no basis for the Board's elimination of an ALJ hearing. Those regulations make no distinctions between the procedures for handling initial and subsequent claims. All claims, whether initial or subsequent, are filed with the Department. See 20 C.F.R. Secs. 725.301-725.311 (1989). The deputy commissioner investigates the claim by collecting relevant evidence, arranging medical examinations of claimants, and identifying, notifying, and obtaining evidence from responsible operators who may be liable for the payment of benefits. See 20 C.F.R. Secs. 725.401-725.414 (1989). The deputy commissioner then makes an initial finding as to claimant's eligibility and attempts to resolve the claim informally. See 20 C.F.R. Secs. 725.410, 415-19 (1989). 20 However, the deputy commissioner can resolve a claim only if the parties are in agreement. The regulations are unequivocal on the right to an ALJ hearing in a disputed claim: In any claim for which a formal hearing is requested or ordered [by the deputy commissioner] ..., the deputy commissioner shall refer the claim to the Office of Administrative Law Judges for a hearing. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 725.421(a) (1989) (emphasis added). The regulations also provide that [a]ny party to a claim ... shall have a right to a hearing concerning any contested issue of law or fact unresolved by the deputy commissioner. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 725.450 (1989) (emphasis added). Nowhere do these regulations suggest that a subsequent claim is to be processed any differently from an initial claim or that a subsequent claim does not entitle a party to an ALJ hearing. These regulations are mandatory and apply by their terms to all claims and all contested issues of law or fact. There are only two instances in which the Secretary has varied the black lung regulations to allow direct appeal from a deputy commissioner to the Board. These involve attorneys' fee awards, see 20 C.F.R. Sec. 725.366(e) (1989), and commutation of black lung benefits to a lump sum award, see 20 C.F.R. Sec. 725.521(c) (1989). Those two exceptions prove that where the Secretary believes a deviation from the three-tier statutory claims review process is appropriate, she has promulgated a regulation to that effect. The Secretary has promulgated no such regulation for duplicate claims, and the Board, which lacks rulemaking powers, has no authority to do so itself. 21 Except in the two examples noted, the regulations nowhere give a party dissatisfied with a deputy commissioner's determination, on any issue, the right to appeal it to the Board. The Board attempts to circumvent these regulations by labeling the deputy commissioner's denial a final determination, and by claiming that there is no need to develop a record and therefore no need for a full-blown hearing. However, whether a claimant has shown a material change in condition requires consideration and comparison of medical evidence on two different dates, a typical factfinding process for which an ALJ hearing is quite appropriate. 22