“Rule-Out” Rebuttal Standard Applies To Mine Operators Per Fourth Circuit

The Fourth Circuit determined that the 2013 Department of Labor regulations setting forth an evidentiary standard required to rebut an underground coal miner’s presumption of pneumoconiosis apply to coal mine operators as well as the U.S. Secretary of Labor.  Specifically, the court rejected an operator’s argument that the rebuttal standard enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010 was unambiguous and applied only to the Secretary of Labor, thus not rendering operators subject to the agency regulation.

The court upheld the underlying ALJ opinion finding the miner in question entitled to benefits because the operator could not “rule out” any connection between the miner’s pneumoconiosis and his disability.  The miner had smoked more than a pack of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years and had a series of major health issues that the operator argued should rebut the presumption for benefits, but given that the operator was subject to the rule out standard, the court gave credence to the ALJ’s determination that the operator’s experts failed to adequately explain why pneumoconiosis was not at least a partial cause of the miner’s respiratory or pulmonary disability.