United States Fourth Circuit

Under 20 CFR 725.493, a coal miner who worked a 125-day minimum for regular employment for an employer but under a period of one calendar year, did not work for that employer for "one year" to make that employer a "responsible operator" under the Black Lung Benefits Act.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/02/2001
• Decided 01/14/2002
• Published 01/14/2002

Judges

• Before NIEMEYER and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and FRANK J. MAGILL, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Douglas Allan Smoot, Jackson & Kelly, P.L.L.C., Morgantown, West Virginia, for Petitioner.  Sarah Marie Hurley, United States Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., for Respondents. ON BRIEF:  Kathy L. Snyder, Jackson & Kelly, P.L.L.C., Morgantown, West Virginia, for Petitioner.  Donald S. Shire, Associate Solicitor, Christian P. Barber, for Appellate Litigation, United States Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., for Respondents.