Thomas v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc.

REDMANN, Chief Judge.

Defendant appeals from an award of workers’ compensation benefits for permanent and total disability from silicosis. We remand to allow defendant to cross-examine plaintiff’s expert Dr. Morton Brown on his expertise and to allow plaintiff too to present further evidence.

Dr. Brown is the only physician who testified plaintiff was disabled from silicosis. Dr. Brown had never examined plaintiff, but saw his chest x-rays and knew his employment history to include sandblasting (although with a forced-air sandblast hood, and mostly with coal ash rather thán silica). Dr. Brown…