Freeman United Coal Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission

Claimant, Thomas Lefler, filed an application for adjustment of claim pursuant to the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 48, par. 172.36 et seq.) alleging that he had contracted an occupational disease, coal worker’s pneumoconiosis (black lung disease), arising out of and in the course of his employment with Freeman United Coal Mining Company (the employer). The arbitrator denied Lefler’s claim, finding that Lefler had failed to prove that he had been exposed to coal dust, the hazard upon which his claim was based, or that coal dust exposure was causally…