Persiani v. SWCC

Neely, Justice:

These three cases were consolidated for hearing because they all present the same troublesome question concerning the proper application of the liberality rule in claims for occupational pneumoconiosis. All three claimants suffer diagnosable conditions of occupational pneumoconiosis, although none demonstrated any measurable impairment on standard tests administered by the employers’ physicians and submitted to the Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board. All claimants did, however, demonstrate a measurable impairment on blood gas studies performed by their own physicians who were…