W. Va. Court Upholds Award of Only 15 Percent Disability Benefits in Occupational Dust Exposure Claim

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– A West Virginia appellate court has upheld an award of 15 percent permanent partial disability award, noting that there was sufficient evidence in the record to support that anything higher than that was due to non-occupational causes.

In the Feb. 3 decision, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals held that the former coal mine worker’s injury was in part related to his smoking history.

Carmon D. Burns said that his nearly 35-year employment as a coal miner caused him to develop occupational pneumoconiosis.

The Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board found, however, that Burns had developed no more than …