Crowe v. Zeigler Coal Co., No. 10-2174 (7th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseIn 1995, 14 years of applications and appeals, an ALJ found that the mine worker was entitled to black lung benefits, dated to 1981. The award was reversed in 1996. In 2000 the Seventh Circuit held that denial of a 1981 claim did not preclude the award and remanded. In 2001 an ALJ again awarded benefits. The company initiated proceedings for modification and refused to pay. In 2003 an ALJ denied the petition for modification; in 2004 the benefits review board reversed. The company, by then liquidated in bankruptcy, withdrew. The issuer of a surety bond, was notified, but did not intervene. The ALJ declined to hold the proceedings in abeyance. In 2008 a successor insurer filed a motion for conditional intervention in the modification proceedings. An ALJ granted the motion and the modification. In 2009 the miner died and the review board affirmed the modification, terminating benefits. The Seventh Circuit reversed. The modification proceeding should have been dismissed when the company ceased to be a real party in interest to serve as the proponent of modification, and the surety, which might have served as a real party in interest in support of modification, failed to seek timely intervention.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on August 23, 2011.
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