Island Creek Coal Co. v. Compton, ___ F.3d ___, 2000 WL 524798 (4th Cir. 2000)
May 10, 2000

In Island Creek Coal Co. v. Compton, ___ F.3d ___, 2000 WL 524798 (4th Cir. 2000), the Fourth Circuit held that the administrative law judge must weigh all evidence together under 20 C.F.R. § 718.202(a) to determine whether the miner suffered from coal workers' pneumoconiosis. This is contrary to the Board's view that an administrative law judge may weigh the evidence under each subsection separately, i.e. x-ray evidence at § 718.202(a)(1) is weighed apart from the medical opinion evidence at § 718.202(a)(4). In so holding, the court cited to the Third Circuit's decision in Penn Allegheny Coal Co. v. Williams, 114 F.3d 22, 24-25 (3d Cir. 1997) which requires the same analysis. The court reasoned as follows:

[W]eighing all of the relevant evidence together makes common sense. Otherwise, the existence of pneumoconiosis could be found even though the evidence as a whole clearly weighed against such a finding. For example, suppose x-ray evidence indicated that the miner had pneumoconiosis, but autopsy evidence established that the miner did not have any sort of lung disease caused by coal dust exposure. In such a situation, if each type of evidence were evaluated only within a particular subsection of § 718.202(a) to which it related, the x-ray evidence could support an award for benefits in spite of the fact that more probative evidence established that benefits were not due. See Griffith v. Director, OWCP, 49 F.3d 184, 187 (6th Cir. 1995) (noting that autopsy evidence is generally accorded greater weight than x- ray evidence).

Slip op. at 3. The Director took the position that x-ray evidence should not be weighed with medical opinion evidence as these two types of evidence measure different types of pneumoconiosis, i.e. clinical versus legal pneumoconiosis. The court agreed that there are two types of pneumoconiosis and stated that "[m]edical pneumoconiosis is a particular disease of the lung generally characterized by certain opacities appearing on the chest x-ray." The court further noted that legal pneumoconiosis encompasses a broader category of coal dust induced respiratory diseases and concluded the following:

In that sense, the Director's point is well-taken: Evidence that does not establish medical pneumoconiosis, e.g., an x-ray read as negative for coal workers' pneumoconiosis, should not necessarily be treated as evidence weighing against a finding of legal pneumoconiosis.

Slip op. at 4. However, the circuit court rejected the Director's position and held that it was not a reasonable interpretation of either the Act or the regulations:

[A]lthough we recognize that there is a meaningful distinction between evidence of medical pneumoconiosis and evidence of legal pneumoconiosis, it cannot be said that evidence showing that a miner does not have medical pneumoconiosis is irrelevant to the question of whether the miner has established pneumoconiosis for purposes of a black lung claim. Further, nothing in the text of the regulation supports his position.