Eighty Four Mining Co. v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs

I

I respectfully dissent. The-majority relies heavily on one aspect of the Obush opinion: the courts’ long history of giving a liberal interpretation to the Black Lung Benefits Act (30 U.S.C. §§ 901-945) to fulfill the remedial nature of the law. As the one who wrote the Obush opinion for the Court, I obviously have no problem with this general approach to interpreting the statute. However, I part ways with the majority because it fails to account for the entire holding in Obush, and, because of that, it misapplies it here.

Obush does not support the majority’s holding that a Pennsylvania…