Court Opinion

ID: 990208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-03 23:17:55.62444+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:30.911757
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

IVA G. HALL, Widow of Shirley M.
Hall,
Petitioner,

v.
                                                                           No. 95-2885
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS'
COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR;
CONSOLIDATION COAL COMPANY,
Respondents.

On Petition for Review of an Order
of the Benefits Review Board.
(95-377-BLA)

Submitted: August 15, 1996

Decided: August 23, 1996

Before MURNAGHAN and ERVIN, Circuit Judges, and
BUTZNER,* Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

*Senior Judge Butzner did not participate in consideration of this case.
The opinion is filed by a quorum of the panel pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§ 46(d) (1988).
COUNSEL

S.F. Raymond Smith, RUNDLE & RUNDLE, L.C., Pineville, West
Virginia, for Petitioner. Ann B. Rembrandt, JACKSON & KELLY,
Charleston, West Virginia, for Respondents.

_________________________________________________________________

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Iva Hall, the widow of Shirley Hall, a former coal miner, appeals
from a decision of the Benefits Review Board (Board) affirming an
administrative law judge's (ALJ) decision to deny black lung benefits
on the miner's claim and her survivor's claim. The ALJ denied bene-
fits based on her determination that pneumoconiosis did not contrib-
ute to either the death or the disability of the miner. Hall's sole
contention on appeal relating to the survivor's claim is that, in deny-
ing that claim, the ALJ failed to discuss the "hasten death" standard
announced in our decision in Shuff v. Cedar Coal Co., 967 F.2d 977
(4th Cir. 1992). We find, however, that even under that standard the
denial of benefits in this case must be affirmed as a matter of law
because the record is devoid of any affirmative evidence linking
pneumoconiosis to the miner's death. Rather, seven pathologists, the
autopsy prosector, and the attending physician who signed the miner's
death certificate all agreed that the miner died from a myocardial
infarction attributable to severe coronary artery disease.

Similarly, with regard to the miner's claim, we find that Hall's con-
tentions that the ALJ erroneously credited four medical reports pro-
vided by the employer's physicians are moot because Hall raises no
challenge to the ALJ's decision to reject the report of Dr. Rasmussen,
the only physician of record finding a link between pneumoconiosis
and the miner's respiratory insufficiency. Absent this report, the

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record contains no evidence which could support Hall's burden to
prove that pneumoconiosis contributed to the miner's total disability.
See Robinson v. Pickands Mather & Co., 914 F.2d 35, 36 (4th Cir.
1990). We also note that the ALJ properly rejected Dr. Rasmussen's
report on the grounds that it failed to discuss the impact of the miner's
heart problems on his respiratory impairment, and was based on less
extensive data than the remaining, conflicting reports of record.

Accordingly, the decision of the Board is affirmed. We dispense
with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are ade-
quately presented in the materials before the court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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