Former Power Plant Worker Fully Compensated by Prior Disability Award, W. Va. Court Affirms

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — A West Virginia appeals court has upheld a workers’ compensation board’s decision that a former power plant employee has been fully compensated by a prior 10 percent partial disability award, affirming that his lung disease was caused by 20 years of smoking.

In a Sept. 19 memorandum decision, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals agreed with the Occupational Pneumoconiosis Board’s finding that December 2018 pulmonary function studies performed on the claimant were the most reliable and showed no impairment above 10 percent.

Rodger Burgess was exposed to hazardous dust during his 40 years of …