United States Ninth Circuit

In a petition for review of a decision of the Benefits Review Board upholding the Administrative Law Judge's (ALJ) ruling that petitioner was liable for payment of death benefits to claimant under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), the petition is granted where, in LHWCA occupational disease cases involving multiple employers: 1) the 33 U.S.C. section 920(a) (section 20(a)) presumption must be invoked against each employer before that employer may be found liable for payment of benefits; 2) each employer may rebut the section 20(a) presumption with substantial evidence that it is not the last responsible employer; 3) once an employer has rebutted the section 20(a) presumption, it may be found liable only if a preponderance of the evidence supports a finding that that employer is responsible; and 4) the analysis with respect to each employer shall be applied sequentially, beginning with the last (most recent) employer, and need not be conducted for earlier employers once a responsible employer is found.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/10/2010
• Published 12/13/2010

Judges

• A. Wallace Tashima

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Dennis R. VavRosky, Russell A. Metz