Owcp
Seachris v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Program
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
LaDonna Seachris petitions for review of the Benefits Review Board’s (“BRB”) order affirming an administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) decision denying death benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901-50 . We have jurisdiction under 33 U.S.C. § 921 . Because the ALJ erred in discrediting the testimony of Dr. Kafrouni, we grant the petition for review and remand. Because the parties are familiar with the history of this case, we need not recount it here.
The ALJ’s determination that the claimant did not establish that the cervical myelopathy caused by Cloyd Seachris’s (“Seachris”) 1979 work injury could have accelerated the immobility and diabetes that contributed to his death is unsupported by substantial evidence of the record considered as a whole. The ALJ’s credibility determination as to Dr. Kafrouni’s testimony was “patently unreasonable” and “conflict[s] with the clear preponderance of the evidence.” Hawaii Stevedores, Inc. v. Ogawa, 608 F.3d 642, 648 (9th Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
The ALJ unreasonably characterized Dr. Kafrouni’s testimony as “ignoring]” and “dismissing]” Seachris’s other…