Duncan joined.


ARGUED: Timothy Ward Gresham, PENNSTUART, Abingdon, Virginia,
for Petitioner.    Victoria Susannah Herman, WOLFE WILLIAMS &
REYNOLDS, Norton, Virginia, for Respondent Shirley Addison. ON
BRIEF: Joseph E. Wolfe, WOLFE WILLIAMS & REYNOLDS, Norton,
Virginia, for Respondent Shirley Addison.
AGEE, Circuit Judge:

        Jerry Addison applied for financial assistance under the

Black        Lung    Benefits      Act,     30    U.S.C.      §§   901-944     (“the     Act”),

claiming that he suffered from coal-dust induced pneumoconiosis

as a result of his prior work as a coal miner.            Addison began his pack-a-day smoking habit in

1956 and stopped sometime between 2001 and 2012.                   The evidence

is clear that Addison suffered from a myriad of ailments during

the latter part of his life that, if not caused by smoking, were

certainly amplified by this activity.                 Among other things, he

had       a    history     of     arthritis,      coronary   artery     disease,

hypertension, and diabetes.




      3Addison attested that he worked