Background
Thomas Culbertson, a coal mine worker, received benefits for legal pneumoconiosis under the Black Lung Benefits Act. The Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges confirmed the award, and the Benefits Review Board affirmed it. Extra Energy, Incorporated, the employer responsible for payments, appealed, arguing that a Department of Labor regulation defining ‘substantially similar’ surface mine conditions exceeded statutory authority.
The court’s reasoning
The court explained that administrative law requires parties to raise arguments before the administrative law judge and the Board to preserve them for appeal. While exceptions exist for futility or intervening changes in law, the court found neither applied here. The court determined that a prior decision did not foreclose the challenge, and the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision did not create a new avenue for review that was previously unavailable. Because the employer failed to raise the issue earlier, the argument was forfeited.
Because Extra Energy failed to do so, its argument is forfeited, and we deny its petition for review.
Extra Energy, Incorporated v. Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, 24-1618 (4th Cir. June 23, 2026)
What it means going forward
Employers and other parties must ensure all legal challenges to agency regulations are raised during the initial administrative proceedings to avoid forfeiture on appeal.