Begley v. Weinberger, Civ. A. No. 74-16
| Decision Date | 18 August 1975 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 74-16,74-622 and 75-58. |
| Citation | 400 F. Supp. 901 |
| Parties | James W. BEGLEY, Plaintiff, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary, Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant. Stephen SPEARS, Plaintiff, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary, Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant. Harry NUTTER, Plaintiff, v. Caspar WEINBERGER, Secretary, Health, Education and Welfare, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
Verrell Dethloff, Dept. of H.E.W., Washington, D. C., William W. Milligan, U. S. Atty., Thomas D. Thompson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Columbus, Ohio, for defendant.
Irwin W. Barkan, Columbus, Ohio, Howdyshell & Dodd, New Lexington, Ohio, for plaintiff in Civ. A. No. 74-16.
Paul A. Pachuta, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, for plaintiff in Civ. A. No. 74-622.
Frederick L. Oremus, Nelsonville, Ohio, for plaintiff in Civ. A. No. 75-58.
These three cases are appeals from final decisions of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Title IV of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, Pub.L. 91-173, as amended by the Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972, Pub.L. 92-303, now codified at 30 U.S.C. § 901 et seq. hereinafter, "the statute". Mr. Begley, Mr. Spears and Mr. Nutter are miners who have spent at least fifteen years in underground mines, who filed claims against the United States for black lung benefits, and whose claims have been denied by the Secretary. This Court has jurisdiction to hear these appeals pursuant to 30 U.S.C. § 923(b) and 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
The common question presented by these appeals concerns the use of evidence of total disability due to pneumoconiosis which becomes available after June 30, 1973, but before final adjudication of a claim by the Secretary. The position of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in these cases is that the requisite total disability must be established as having existed on or before June 30, 1973, and that evidence which shows total disability after that date is relevant only insofar as it can be said to relate back to June 30, 1973. This Court's review of the statute leads it to conclude that the Secretary's position is not in keeping with the mandate of the statutory scheme. For the reasons set forth hereinafter, the Court has concluded that all claims submitted under the statute before July 1, 1973, must be decided by determining whether the claimant is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis at the time his claim is finally adjudicated by the Secretary. Further, this determination must be made by application of the Part B standards of the statute and the regulations thereunder. Under this construction, the liability of the United States for black lung benefits remains, as Congress intended, a temporary matter. When all claims filed before July 1, 1973, have been finally adjudicated by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the liability of the United States under the statute will be fixed, and, upon the payment of benefits arising from valid claims, the participation of the United States as an insurer under this statute will cease. The Court will review the statute briefly, and will then turn to the arguments asserted by the parties.
In enacting Title IV of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969,1 Congress established a scheme for payment of benefits to miners who are totally disabled due to chronic lung disease arising out of employment in coal mines. The amendments effected by the Black Lung Benefits Act of 19722 left the major themes of the 1969 act untouched, but did modify certain key transition dates.3 Since Congress was concerned about reports that black lung benefits were unduly difficult to obtain,4 it also established by the 1972 amendments an additional statutory presumption5 favoring certain claimants, and it made clear to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare its intention that he establish, by regulation, still other such presumptions.6 Congress also provided that the so-called backlog of claims — those which the Social Security Administration had denied during the first three years of the 1969 act's existence — would be re-examined by the Secretary in light of the 1972 amendments.7
The statute, as originally enacted and as amended, essentially imposes upon the coal mine industry, that is, the operators of coal mines, the burden of providing benefits for worthy claimants. However, Congress believed it was not fitting for the industry to be required to assume financial responsibility, retroactively, so to speak, for the claims of all miners who already had developed pneumoconiosis. Under the statute, then, the United States is liable only for certain claims filed by miners or their survivors, and coal mine operators are liable for all other claims for black lung benefits.
The statute in operation performs essentially three functions: (1) it imposes liability for payment of black lung benefits upon the United States and/or upon one or more coal mine operators; (2) it provides who is to adjudicate claims; and (3) it establishes standards to be used in determining the eligibility for benefits of miners and certain dependent survivors of miners.
The United States is liable, for the life of the claim, for all benefits arising from all claims filed on or before June 30, 1973.8 No coal mine operator shares liability for any such claim.
Coal mine operators bear the burden of providing benefits for worthy claimants who file on or after January 1, 1974.9 Operators are to finance such liability through participation in approved state workmen's compensation programs, or by self-insurance techniques. If they do not pay benefits through such means, they are liable in a civil action brought by the United States.10 The United States does not share liability for any such claim.
The United States and the coal mine industry do share liability for claims filed between June 30, 1973 and January 1, 1974.11 With respect to such claims, the United States pays only benefits accruing on or before December 31, 1973;12 the operators pay all benefits accruing on and after January 1, 1974.13
For most purposes, then, June 30, 1973, is the operative transition date as regards liability for benefits. The United States is liable for the payment of all benefits arising from claims filed on or before that date, and the coal mine industry is liable for all post-December 31, 1973 benefits arising from claims filed after June 30, 1973.
Congress divided the federal government's adjudicatory role between the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.14 The latter has jurisdiction over claims for which only the United States is potentially liable, that is, claims filed on or before June 30, 1973. The Secretary of Labor has jurisdiction over all claims for which coal mine operators are potentially liable, that is, claims filed after June 30, 1973. However, the Secretary of Labor has no jurisdiction to adjudicate a claim filed after December 31, 1973, if the claim concerns pneumoconiosis arising from employment in a mine located in a state which has a workmen's compensation plan meeting the federal statutory standards and approved by the Secretary of Labor.15
The statute as originally enacted and as amended is divided into three parts. Part A includes Congress' declaration of purpose, and certain definitions. Part B, entitled "Claims for Benefits Filed on or Before December 31, 1973," includes 30 U.S.C. §§ 921-925 and concerns claims for which the United States is liable in whole or in part. Part C, entitled "Claims for Benefits After December 31, 1973," includes 30 U.S.C. §§ 931-941 and concerns claims for which only mine operators are to be liable.
While, as a general rule, the statute provides that eligibility standards for Part B and Part C claims are to be substantially the same,16 several major differences do exist. Congress has provided, for example, that one presumption which is applicable to claims filed in whole or in part against the United States is to have limited applicability to claims filed against only coal mine operators. Thus, the statutory rebuttable presumption of disability due to pneumoconiosis, set out at 30 U.S.C. § 921(c)(4),17 is available to all miners who filed claims against the United States on or before December 31, 1973, if the miner had fifteen years experience in underground mines on or before that date. The same provision is available to miners who file post-December 31, 1973 claims payable by mine operators, but the miner must have had the requisite fifteen years experience on or before June 30, 1971,18 and he must file his claim within three years of his last exposed employment in a coal mine.19
Those Part C claimants who have the § 921(c)(4) presumption available are therefore a closed class of persons; membership in the class will decrease with the passage of time.
Nor do Part C claimants have available to them the interim presumption set out at 20 C.F.R. § 410.490(b) (1974). Although presumptions established by regulation of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare are generally applicable to both Part B and Part C claims,20 the § 410.490(b) rebuttable presumption of total disability due to pneumoconiosis is by its terms an interim presumption, applicable only to claims filed on or before June 30, 1973, which are, as stated in the heading of § 410.490, "certain Part B claims."
There is also a potential for some variance in eligibility standards when claims are filed with an approved state workmen's compensation program. The statute provides that the Secretary of Labor may approve such a program, and thereby divest himself of jurisdiction to hear claims which may be filed under the state program, if the eligibility standards are "substantially equivalent to" those of the statute and...
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