Manning Coal Corp. v. Wright

257 F. App'x 836
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJuly 20, 2007
Docket05-4637
StatusUnpublished

This text of 257 F. App'x 836 (Manning Coal Corp. v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Manning Coal Corp. v. Wright, 257 F. App'x 836 (6th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Manning Coal Corporation (“Manning Coal”) appeals the decision of the Benefits Review Board (“Board”) affirming the decision and order of Administrative Law Judge Thomas Phalen, Jr. (“ALJ”). The ALJ awarded benefits to respondent, Corbin Wright (“Wright”), pursuant to Title IV of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, as amended by the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. § 901, et seq. (“Act”). Manning Coal challenges the Board’s determination that substantial evidence supports the ALJ’s conclusions that *837 (1) Dr. Williams’s medical opinion was sufficiently reasoned to support an award of benefits under the Act and (2) Wright was totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis. In light of the remedial nature of the Act, we find that substantial evidence supports the ALJ’s decision to award benefits to Wright.

I. BACKGROUND

Wright is a 77 year-old former mine worker who worked in the mines for 19 years during the period from 1950 until 1986. Most of Wright’s mining work involved welding and repairs, although he worked three to four years underground. In January 1986, Wright quit mining after his lungs began to hurt and he “got sick.” He filed his original claim for benefits under the Act on March 24, 1986, and a second claim on March 22,1989.

This case has an extensive administrative history, and it is not necessary to a determination of the issues before us on appeal to recount it in detail. Suffice it to say that Wright’s attempts to obtain benefits have included numerous hearings before two different ALJs and numerous appeals to and remands from the Board, and the last opinion from the ALJ was on remand from the Board with instructions to reconsider “whether Dr. Williams’[s] opinion that [Wright] suffers from a moderately severe pulmonary impairment is sufficiently reasoned to establish that [Wright] is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis.” The Board concluded that if, on remand, the ALJ found Dr. Williams’s opinion sufficiently reasoned, the ALJ could find that Dr. Williams’s diagnosis of a moderately severe pulmonary impairment was sufficient to support a finding of total disability under 20 C.F.R. § 718.204(b)(2)(iv).

The ALJ found that Dr. Williams’s opinion was reasoned, and therefore, sufficient to establish total disability due to pneumoconiosis. As he had several times before, the ALJ awarded benefits. Manning Coal again appealed to the Board, arguing that Dr. Williams’s opinion was insufficient as a matter of law to support a finding of total disability, and that the ALJ erred “in finding the evidence, specifically Dr. Williams’s opinion, sufficient to establish total disability due to pneumoconiosis pursuant to 20 C.F.R. § 718.204(b), (e).”

The Board applied the law of the case doctrine and found that it had already rejected Manning’s argument regarding total disability, because “given the exertional requirements of claimant’s usual coal mine employment, the [ALJ] reasonably determined that Dr. Williams’s diagnosis [of a moderately severe pulmonary impairment] was sufficient to support a finding of total disability.” Further, the Board found that the ALJ did not err in his determination that Dr. Williams’s diagnosis of a moderately severe pulmonary impairment was sufficiently reasoned to support an award of benefits. The Board affirmed the award of benefits.

In their last go-round, the entirety of the parties’ arguments before the ALJ and the Board turned on the questions of total disability, disability causation, and the nature of Dr. Williams’s opinion. Our inquiry here then is two-fold: (1) does substantial evidence support a conclusion that Dr. Williams’s medical opinion is sufficiently reasoned to support an award of benefits? and (2) does substantial evidence support the ALJ’s inferences that Wright suffers a totally disabling respiratory impairment due to pneumoconiosis?

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

While we must affirm the Board’s decision “if the Board has not committed any legal error or exceeded its statutory scope of review of the ALJ’s factual determinations,” our review on appeal is “focused on *838 whether the ALJ—not the Board—had substantial evidence upon which to base his ... decision.” Jonida Trucking, Inc. v. Hunt, 124 F.3d 739, 742 (6th Cir.1997). That is, “[w]e review the ALJ’s decision to determine whether it is supported by substantial evidence and is consistent with applicable law.” Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co. v. Webb, 49 F.3d 244, 246 (6th Cir.1995). “[A]s long as the ALJ’s conclusion is supported by the evidence, we will not reverse, even if the facts permit an alternative conclusion.” Id.

Substantial evidence, from the record considered as a whole, “ ‘is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.’ ” Ramey v. Kentland Elkhorn Coal Corp., 755 F.2d 485, 488 (6th Cir.1985) (quoting Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971)). “In referring to a singular ‘reasonable mind,’ the Supreme Court has directed us to uphold decisions that rest within the realm of rationality; a reviewing court has no license to ‘set aside an inference merely because it finds the opposite conclusion more reasonable or because it questions the factual basis.’ ” Piney Mountain Coal Co. v. Mays, 176 F.3d 753, 756 (4th Cir.1999) (quoting Smith v. Dir., Office of Workers’ Comp. Programs, U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 843 F.2d 1053, 1057 (7th Cir.1988) and discussing Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971)); see also Bizzarri v. Consolidation Coal Co., 775 F.2d 751, 753 (6th Cir.1985) (“[I]t is ‘immaterial that the facts permit the drawing of diverse inferences.’ ”) (quoting Parker v. Dir., Office of Workers’ Comp. Programs, U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 590 F.2d 748, 749 (8th Cir.1979)).

Indeed, “[a] remand or reversal is only appropriate when the ALJ fails to consider all of the evidence under the proper legal standard or there is insufficient evidence to support the ALJ’s finding.” McCain v. Dir., Office of Workers’ Comp. Programs, 58 FedAppx. 184, 201 (6th Cir.2003) (citing Cornett v.

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Richardson v. Perales
402 U.S. 389 (Supreme Court, 1971)
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172 F. App'x 641 (Sixth Circuit, 2006)
Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co. v. Webb
49 F.3d 244 (Sixth Circuit, 1995)
Peabody Coal Co. v. Smith
127 F.3d 504 (Sixth Circuit, 1997)
Piney Mountain Coal Co. v. Mays
176 F.3d 753 (Fourth Circuit, 1999)
Cornett v. Benham Coal, Inc.
227 F.3d 569 (Sixth Circuit, 2000)
Ramey v. Kentland Elkhorn Coal Corp.
755 F.2d 485 (Sixth Circuit, 1985)
Moseley v. Peabody Coal Co.
769 F.2d 357 (Sixth Circuit, 1985)
Bizzarri v. Consolidation Coal Co.
775 F.2d 751 (Sixth Circuit, 1985)
Poole v. Freeman United Coal Mining Co.
897 F.2d 888 (Seventh Circuit, 1990)

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257 F. App'x 836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manning-coal-corp-v-wright-ca6-2007.