The Intermediate West Virginia Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the widow of a worker who died from mesothelioma was improperly denied fatal dependents’ benefits.
The court determined that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board of Review wrongly upheld a claim administrator’s order denying death benefits to Mildred Joyce Cantrell, whose husband, Spencer Thurman Cantrell, died in October 2020 while working for Adams MFG Co. Inc.
In denying her petition for death benefits, the review board found that Ms. Cantrell failed to demonstrate that her deceased husband was exposed to abnormal quantities of dust during his employment.
In her appeal, Ms. Cantrell argued the board wrongly denied her claim because her husband was exposed to asbestos dust while working as an industrial electrician for J&S Mining, which later became Mountaineer Mining Service.
Mr. Cantrell was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in May 2020; he died in October of that year.
The appeals court said the review board was wrong to deny the death benefits petition based on the fact that Ms. Cantrell failed to demonstrate that her husband was exposed to the hazards of occupational pneumoconiosis during his employment.
The appeals court ruled that the board wrongly based its order upon standards relating to occupational pneumoconiosis, and that it was clear Ms. Cantrell intended her claim to be reviewed as an application for an occupational disease.
The court vacated the board’s order and returned the matter to the board for further proceedings.