Background
In the nineteen nineties, miners worked for Apogee Coal Company, a subsidiary of Arch Resources, Inc. Arch self-insured Apogee against black-lung claims rather than purchasing commercial insurance. In two thousand and five, Arch sold Apogee and its liabilities to Magnum Coal, which was later acquired by Patriot Coal. When Patriot went bankrupt in two thousand and fifteen, the Department of Labor instructed district directors to hold Arch liable as the responsible insurer for claims accrued during its ownership. The miners applied for benefits between two thousand and fifteen and two thousand and seventeen, and the Board affirmed the directors’ decisions naming Arch as the responsible insurer.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviews the Board’s legal conclusions de novo. The petitioners argued that the Board erred in holding Arch liable because it had sold Apogee in two thousand and five. However, the court noted that Arch and Apogee conceded they were making the same arguments based on materially identical facts that the court had rejected in a published decision two years prior. The court stated that because that prior decision binds them, they must deny the petitions.
What it means going forward
The ruling confirms that a parent corporation remains liable for black-lung benefits accrued during its period of self-insurance even after selling the subsidiary, provided the arguments against liability have already been rejected by the court in a binding precedent.