Coal mine owners are generally pleased with a Supreme Court ruling shielding them and their insurance companies from paying up to $13.6 billion in additional black lung benefits but an attorney for miners claimed a partial victory. The justices ruled 9-0 on Tuesday that a group of miners estimated to number between 94,000 and 155,000 is ineligible to seek disability benefits for the disease. The group consists of those who missed deadlines for filing court appeals after they were denied benefits. Mark Solomons, a lawyer representing the mine operators, said, ``The industry is going to be pleased.'' But Solomons said a second part of the Supreme Court's ruling will spur additional litigation for a smaller number of miners hoping to receive benefits. In that section, the justices voted 5-4 to permit some miners who worked less than 10 years in the mines to seek disability pay for black lung disease, or pneumoconiosis, a respiratory ailment caused by prolonged inhaling of coal dust. Between 8,000 and 10,000 miners with pending claims could be in line to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits under that part of the high court decision. The court said even if miners have less than 10 years on the job, they are presumed to be eligible for benefits if they display medical evidence of the disease. Paul Smith, a lawyer representing miners, said the ruling is a significant _ if only partial _ victory for the workers. ``The presumption makes a big difference,'' he said, because it shifts the burden of proof to the government to deny such claims. ``It's very difficult to prove you are disabled by black lung disease,'' he said. Congress created a special industry-supported fund to pay off claims by miners with the disease. Coal mine operators already owe the fund some $3 billion that was lent to it by the federal treasury. The Reagan administration had urged the justices to deny the claims of miners who had missed earlier filing deadlines. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said nothing in federal law requires the government to reopen settled claims. ``There is not even a colorable basis for the contention that Congress has imposed a duty to reconsider finally determined claims,'' he said. But Scalia said Congress also never intended to exclude from benefit eligibility miners who worked less than 10 years. ``We do not sit to determine what Congress ought to have done given the evidence before it, but to apply what Congress enacted _ and ... the exclusion of short-term miners from the benefits ... finds no support'' in a 1977 law aimed at making it easier for miners to seek benefits, Scalia said. The high court overturned a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had ordered the Labor Department to take a fresh look at claims that were denied in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The appeals court had directed the department to use the liberalized standards adopted by Congress in 1977 to determine benefit eligibility for a group numbering from 94,000 to 155,000. The cases involved potential benefits estimated at $13.6 billion. In other cases, the court: _Threw out an appeal by an unwed California father seeking to restore a parental relationship with his 7-year-old daughter. Eight days after hearing arguments in Edward McNamara's case, the court dismissed the appeal for procedural reasons and left unanswered whether unwed fathers have the same parental rights as unwed mothers. _Ruled unanimously that federal employees holding sensitive intelligence-agency jobs are not entitled to administrative hearings when fired as security risks. The justices reversed a ruling requiring a hearing for a National Security Agency employee who says he was dismissed for homosexual activities.
