Smith v. Leeco, Inc., 94-SC-563-WC
| Decision Date | 16 February 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-SC-563-WC,94-SC-563-WC |
| Citation | 897 S.W.2d 581 |
| Parties | Lee Roy SMITH, Appellant, v. LEECO, INC.; Vicki G. Newberg, Acting Director of Special Fund; and Workers' Compensation Board, Appellees. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
There is a novel issue in this case regarding whether a coal worker who is still employed as a miner can collect benefits for total disability pursuant to KRS 342.732(1)(d). The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), Workers' Compensation Board (Board), and Court of Appeals concluded that under the present system, benefits awarded pursuant to KRS 342.732(1)(d) were not authorized to be paid to working miners. We affirm.
Claimant has worked in the mining industry for 23 years for multiple employers. During his last employment with Leeco Mining, Inc., claimant was diagnosed as suffering from coal workers' pneumoconiosis.
The ALJ concluded from expert interpretations of claimant's chest x-rays that he suffered from category 2 (two) pneumoconiosis. Such a conclusion triggers the irrebuttable presumption of total disability contained in KRS 342.732(1)(d) as follows:
(d) If the administrative law judge finds that an employee has occupational pneumoconiosis with a radiographic classification of category 2/1, 2/2, 2/3, 3/2, 3/3 or progressive massive fibrosis, based on the latest ILO International Classification of Radiographics, there shall be an irrebuttable presumption that the employee is totally disabled resulting from exposure to coal dust and the administrative law judge shall award income benefits equal to sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) of the employee's average weekly wage but not more than one hundred percent (100%) of the state average weekly wage and not less than twenty percent (20%) of the average weekly wage of the state as determined by KRS 342.740. Income benefits awarded under this paragraph shall be payable to the employee during such disability.
The medical evidence showed that claimant suffered from no pulmonary impairment, and in fact, claimant continued to be employed in the coal industry. For this reason, the ALJ dismissed the claim.
The only section of KRS 342.732 authorizing the payment of benefits to working miners is subsec...
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Fields v. Carbon River Coal Co., s. 95-CA-000036-W
...that the ALJ did not abuse his discretion in ignoring the FVC value obtained by Dr. Dahhan. In the meantime, the case of Smith v. Leeco, Inc., Ky., 897 S.W.2d 581 (1995), was pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court. Smith involved the same issue in Fields' appeal, that is: do the irrebutt......
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Caldwell Tanks, Inc. v. Wethington, No. 2007-CA-000943-WC (Ky. App. 9/28/2007)
...we submit that the award of those benefits must be abated until such time as Plaintiff ceases active gainful employment. Smith v. Leeco, Inc., Ky. 897 S.W.2d 581 (1995)." On September 6, 2006, the ALJ issued an order denying the Caldwell Tanks subsequently appealed the ALJ's decision to the......
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Begley v. Mountain Top, Inc.
...not apply to the present case if the evidence of record was found to support an award for income benefits. As concluded in Smith v. Leeco, Ky., 897 S.W.2d 581 (1995), income benefits are not payable to a working miner, regardless of the irrebuttable presumption of total occupational disabil......
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Leeco, Inc. v. Smith
...Randall Allen, Louisville, Ky. [7] OPINION OF THE COURT [8] REVERSING AND REMANDING [9] This appeal is the sequel to Smith v. Leeco, Inc., Ky., 897 S.W.2d 581 (1995), which concerned a 1991 claim for income benefits pursuant to KRS 342.732(1)(d). In the original proceeding, an Administrativ......