Opinion ID: 217821
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Precedents Interpreting the Modification Authority

Text: The Supreme Court has long understood the modification provision in the statute to convey broad authority. In Banks v. Chicago Grain Trimmers Ass'n, 390 U.S. 459, 461-64, 88 S.Ct. 1140, 20 L.Ed.2d 30 (1968), a claimant filed a second petition for benefits, alleging a completely different theory of liability and different evidence in support of that theory. The court of appeals had rejected the second petition, concluding it was barred by res judicata. The Supreme Court, however, held that the second petition was an appropriate request for modification within the authority granted by the statute. Specifically, the Court acknowledged that among the mistakes of fact the statute permitted the agency to correct was a mistake of ultimate fact i.e., the liability of the employer. It is significant that the broad reading of the modification authority in the Longshore Act in Banks predates the decision of Congress to incorporate its procedures into the first black lung program, in the FCMHSA of 1969.