GOVERNMENT BENEFITS CASES

• Zeigler Coal Co. v. Office of Worker's Comp. Programs
• Alpough v. Nicholson
• Nelson v. Nicholson
• Quiocson v. Office of Personnel Mgmt.

U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, June 19, 2007
Zeigler Coal Co. v. Office of Worker's Comp. Programs, No. 06-1248
A coal company's petition for review of an award of black lung benefits to a mine worker is denied, and the award affirmed, over petitioner's arguments that: 1) it was error for the ALJ to invoke the interim presumption of total disability; 2) petitioner had rebutted the presumption; and 3) the ALJ impermissibly declined to admit evidence regarding the progressivity or latency of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Read more...

U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals, June 18, 2007
Alpough v. Nicholson, No. 2006-7304
Denial of a claim for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) surviving spouse benefits is vacated and remanded where the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims erred in holding that claimant's mutually agreed separation from her husband before his death automatically disqualified her from recognition as a surviving spouse. Read more...

U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals, June 18, 2007
Nelson v. Nicholson, No. 2006-7314
In an appeal from a decision denying a claim for an earlier effective date for claimant's post traumatic stress disorder, dismissal of the appeal as untimely is affirmed where the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims properly refused to equitably toll the filing deadline set forth in 38 U.S.C. section 7266(a) based on a claim of excusable neglect. Read more...

U.S. Fed. Circuit Court of Appeals, June 19, 2007
Quiocson v. Office of Personnel Mgmt., No. 2007-3084
In proceedings brought by the wife of an individual who worked for the Department of the Navy at the U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility at Subic Bay in the Philippines until his death in 1991, denial of petitioner's application for a survivor annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System is affirmed as a finding that her husband never served in a covered position was supported by substantial evidence. Read more...