Alice Thomas, Widow of John Thomas v. West Virginia Office of Insurance Commissioner/Keystone Service Industries, Inc.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the denial of Alice Thomas’s claim for dependent’s workers’ compensation benefits following her husband’s death from metastatic lung cancer. The court held that the evidence supported the conclusion that occupational pneumoconiosis did not materially contribute to his death. The court issued the decision as a memorandum decision under Rule 21 of the West Virginia Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Holdings

1. A claimant seeking dependent’s benefits must establish that an occupational disease or injury contributed in any material degree to the decedent’s death; the evidence did not establish that occupational pneumoconiosis materially contributed to John Thomas’s death.
2. The Board of Review’s decision was not in clear violation of a constitutional or statutory provision, was not clearly the result of erroneous conclusions of law, and was not based on a material misstatement or mischaracterization of the evidentiary record.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence established that John Thomas’s occupational pneumoconiosis materially contributed to his death so as to entitle his widow to dependent’s workers’ compensation benefits.
2. Whether the Board of Review’s denial of dependent’s benefits was clearly erroneous, legally erroneous, constitutionally or statutorily invalid, or based on a material misstatement or mischaracterization of the evidentiary record.

Disposition

affirmed