Scott v. Mason Coal Co.

• Decision Date: 02 May 2002
• Docket Number: No. 99-1495.,99-1495.
• Citation: 289 F.3d 263
• Parties: Ernest SCOTT, Petitioner, v. MASON COAL COMPANY; Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 263

289 F.3d 263

Ernest SCOTT, Petitioner, v. MASON COAL COMPANY; Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor, Respondents.

No. 99-1495.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued February 28, 2000.

Decided May 2, 2002.

ARGUED:

Martin Douglas Wegbreit, Client Centered Legal Services of Southwest Virginia, Inc., Castlewood, Virginia, for Petitioner. Mark Elliott Solomons, ARTER & HADDEN, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Respondents.

ON BRIEF:

Laura Metcoff Klaus, ARTER & HADDEN, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Respondents.

Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, WIDENER, Circuit Judge, and JAMES R. SPENCER, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

Reversed and remanded with instructions by published opinion. Judge WIDENER wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge WILKINSON and Judge SPENCER joined.

OPINION

WIDENER, Circuit Judge.

This is Ernest Scott's second appeal to this court from a decision by the Benefits Review Board (the Board) upholding an administrative law judge's (ALJ) decision to deny him benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act, 30 U.S.C. §§ 901-45. In Scott v. Mason Coal Co., 60 F.3d 1138 (4th Cir.1995), we remanded the case for a determination of whether Scott is totally disabled, and if so, of whether his disability was caused at least in part by pneumoconiosis. On remand, the ALJ found the medical evidence did not indicate that Scott was totally disabled or that any disability was caused in part by pneumoconiosis. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 96-0995-BLA (Jan. 30, 1998). The Board affirmed that decision on appeal. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 98-0660 BLA (Mar. 17, 1999). We find that the ALJ committed error in failing to consider a reasoned medical opinion indicating that Scott is totally disabled and in erroneously relying on the opinions of two doctors who did not diagnose Scott with pneumoconiosis. We reverse and remand with an order to the Board to award benefits to Scott.

I.

Scott started working in the coal mines at the age of 14 and continued to do so for 24 years. He last worked for Mason Coal Company (Mason Coal), the responsible operator in this case, in April 1983. Scott first filed for benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act on January 3, 1984.

In 1988, an ALJ determined that Scott has pneumoconiosis that arose out of his coal mine employment.¹ Scott, 60 F.3d at 1139. However, in order to receive benefits, Scott still had to prove that he was totally disabled and that his disability was due to pneumoconiosis. Toler v. Eastern Associated Coal Co., 43 F.3d 109, 112 (4th Cir.1995). The ALJ found that Scott did not establish that he was totally disabled from pneumoconiosis because he could not show that his disability was due solely to pneumoconiosis. The Board initially affirmed the ALJ's decision on appeal. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 88-1838 BLA (Dec. 21, 1989). But after granting a motion for reconsideration filed by the Director of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, the Board, en banc, vacated the December 21, 1989 decision and remanded the case to the ALJ after reevaluating the standard used in this circuit for determining causation in black lung cases. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 88-1838 BLA (Jun. 22, 1990) (en banc). The Board overruled its precedent and changed the causation standard to require that a claimant need only prove that pneumoconiosis was a contributing cause of his disability, instead of the sole cause. Even under this new standard, the ALJ denied Scott's claim on remand, and the Board subsequently affirmed that decision. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 88-1838 BLA (Oct. 10, 1991), aff'd, BRB No. 92-0312 BLA (Aug. 6, 1993). Scott then appealed that decision to the Fourth Circuit.

On August 10, 1995, we issued a published opinion in this case finding that the ALJ committed error in refusing to consider a listing of Scott's physical limitations found in Dr. Kelly Taylor's report when determining whether Scott was totally disabled. Scott, 60 F.3d at 1139. We remanded the case to the Board with instructions for it to remand the case to an ALJ on two narrow issues: (1) whether the ALJ could find that Scott was totally disabled after reconsidering Dr. Taylor's report as a reasoned medical opinion and (2) whether, if the ALJ found that Scott was totally disabled, Scott's disability was caused at least in part by pneumoconiosis. Scott, 60 F.3d at 1141-42.

After our remand and a subsequent remand order from the Board, the ALJ re-opened the record to allow the parties to submit further evidence concerning both the extent of Scott's disability and the causes of his disability. The ALJ issued an opinion on April 5, 1996 again denying Scott benefits on the basis that the medical evidence did not establish that Scott was totally disabled. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 92-312 BLA (Apr. 5, 1996). In reaching this decision, the ALJ did not consider the additional evidence submitted after he re-opened the record because he found it was superfluous. Scott appealed this decision to the Board, and it decided that the ALJ erred by not considering the additional evidence admitted after remand. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 96-0995 (Apr. 28, 1997). Thus, the Board remanded the case back to the ALJ for reconsideration in light of all the relevant evidence submitted in the record.

In the course of his claim, Scott was examined by or presented medical evidence from five different physicians. Three of those physicians' findings are relevant to this appeal,² and we set them forth in some detail here. Dr. Kelly Taylor examined Scott on April 17, 1994 and determined that Scott has pneumoconiosis related to coal dust exposure from Scott's coal mine employment. Dr. Taylor also provided a list of Scott's physical limitations, which we determined was a reasoned medical opinion in Scott's prior appeal to this court. Scott, 60 F.3d at 1141.

Dr. Abdul Dahhan provided an expert opinion on Scott at the request of Mason Coal. Dr. Dahhan examined Scott on two different occasions, provided an opinion based on a review of all of Scott's medical records, and presented deposition testimony. On his first examination of Scott in 1985, Dr. Dahhan diagnosed Scott with simple pneumoconiosis, but found that Scott has no disability due to the disease. After a review of all the medical evidence in the case in 1987, Dr. Dahhan changed his opinion and found insufficient evidence that Scott has pneumoconiosis. After a second examination of Scott in 1995, Dr. Dahhan again found insufficient evidence to diagnose pneumoconiosis, instead he diagnosed Scott with a moderate obstructive airway disease caused by his long history of tobacco use and exacerbated by his severe cardiac disease. Dr. Dahhan opined that Scott is totally disabled because of his airway disease.

In a 1996 report completed after reviewing all the medical evidence in the case at the request of Mason Coal, Dr. James R. Castle opined that Scott does not have pneumoconiosis. Dr. Castle did find that Scott has pulmonary difficulties and breathing problems caused by tobacco use and cardiac diseases. Dr. Castle concluded in the report that Scott is totally disabled due to his coronary artery disease. In a later deposition, Dr. Castle further stated that he disagreed with Dr. Dahhan and found that Scott is not totally disabled from a respiratory standpoint.³

All of this evidence was before the ALJ on the latest remand in this case, and the ALJ again determined that the evidence in the record was insufficient to establish that Scott is totally disabled. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 96-0995 BLA (Jan. 30, 1998). The ALJ gave the greatest weight to the opinions of Dr. Castle and Dr. Dahhan. While the ALJ set forth Dr. Taylor's findings, he discounted them as "not well-reasoned" because Dr. Taylor failed to provide an explanation, objective tests, or any documentation to support his diagnosis. The ALJ went further and determined that even assuming Scott was totally disabled, his disability was not due even in part to pneumoconiosis. The ALJ also relied on Dr. Dahhan's and Dr. Castle's opinions in making this determination despite the fact that neither doctor diagnosed Scott with pneumoconiosis. The ALJ explained this position by noting that because both doctors stated that their opinions would not change even if they assumed Scott had pneumoconiosis, they could be probative on the causation issue. Scott appealed this decision to the Board.

In the decision before us today, the Board affirmed the ALJ's latest denial of benefits to Scott. Scott v. Mason Coal Co., BRB No. 98-0660 BLA (Mar. 17, 1999). While the Board acknowledged that the ALJ did not follow our instructions to consider Dr. Taylor's opinion as a reasoned medical opinion, it found sufficient basis to affirm the ALJ's decision based on the ALJ's alternative holding that Scott's disability is not caused in any part by pneumoconiosis. On the causation determination, the Board found that the ALJ could credit Dr. Dahhan's and Dr. Castle's opinions even though they did not diagnose Scott with pneumoconiosis. The Board found sufficient support for the decision to credit those opinions because the ALJ found the doctors would have reached the same decision had Scott been diagnosed with pneumoconiosis; the ALJ found the opinions clear, documented, and persuasive; and the Board observed that both doctors are board certified in internal medicine and pulmonary diseases.

II.

As we noted in our previous decision, Scott has established that he has pneumoconiosis arising out of his coal mine employment. Scott, 60 F.3d at 1140. Scott has raised the same two questions we identified in our past decision for our review on this appeal: whether the ALJ correctly decided that Scott is not totally disabled and whether the ALJ correctly determined that Scott has no disability...