Opinion ID: 399816
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Award requirements

Text: 6 According to the terms of the settlement in Blankenship v. United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund of 1950, 6 a miner who, prior to that decision, would have been ineligible for a pension 7 would nonetheless qualify if he met either of the two tests adopted by Blankenship. Under Blankenship Test One a miner like Maggard is eligible if he can show, inter alia, that he had completed at least 20 years of classified service at any time, including at least 5 years of signatory service after 28 May 1946. 8 Under Blankenship Test Two a miner who does not meet the requirements of Test One is still eligible for a pension if he completed 20 years of classified service prior to 1953, including any signatory service at all after 28 May 1946, and was physically unable to satisfy the 20-out-of-30 requirement because of a permanent mine-related disability. 9 It is Blankenship Test Two which appellant invokes in this action. 10 7 Another principle with some bearing on the case at hand was involved, and broadened, in Maggard v. Huge. 11 It provides a maximum of 4 years' additional credit to miners who demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that they contracted an occupational disease which was the direct and proximate cause of applicant's inability to work in the coal industry for a period of time of ascertainable duration. 12 As we will discuss later, 13 it may or may not be necessary for appellant to invoke Maggard v. Huge.