Fourth Circuit Summarily Affirms Miner’s Award (Consolidation Coal Co. v. Gilbert)

By Evan B. Smith, March 20, 2014

Yesterday in Consolidation Coal Co. v. Gilbert (decision here) the Fourth Circuit summarily affirmed a miner’s black lung benefits award.

The court affirmed the award in the most summary way possible:  by dispensing with oral argument and issuing a one paragraph, per curiam decision saying that the Benefit Review Board’s decision was right.  ‘Nuff said!

This indicates that the court saw no merit whatsoever to the company’s arguments, which essentially asked the ALJ to reweigh the evidence (the company’s opening brief is available here).

Congratulations to Heath Long for his work on behalf of Mr. Gilbert.