Ky. High Court Finds Burden on Coal Miners to Prove Illness 'Too Stringent'

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky's high court has overturned the "clear and convincing" standard required of coal miners to prove they acquired pneumoconiosis, finding that it placed a higher burden on those workers than on others who allege the same illness from other sources. Vision Mining Inc. v. Gardner, et al., No. 2010-SC-000311-WC and Peabody Coal Co. v. Martinez, No. 2010-SC-000438-WC (Ky. Sup. Ct.).

The Supreme Court affirmed rulings by Kentucky's Court of Appeals in two cases brought by miners who appealed adverse workers' compensation rulings based on a statutory requirement (KRS 342.316) requiring "clear and convincing" evidence to counter "consensus …