Webster County Coal Corp. v. Menser

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

In this black lung benefits case, Barbara Aim Menser, widow of Norman Menser, was twice denied survivor’s benefits by two different administrative law judges. The first time, the Benefits Review Board vacated the ALJ’s decision as lacking the proper foundation and rationale for discrediting Mr. Menser’s treating physician’s diagnosis that coal miner’s pneumoconiosis was a significant condition contributing to Mr. Menser’s death and for discrediting the Dr. Pitzer’s pathological diagnosis that the primary cause of death was severe coal workers’ pneumoconiosis with…