Ohio Supreme Court Says Deceased Employee’s Fiancée Might Have Been “Family” Member Entitled to Death Benefits

No Recovery for FL Mother Whose 16-Year-Old Son Died on First Day of Work

A Florida appellate court affirmed the denial of death benefits to a mother whose 16-year-old son was killed in a tragic drowning accident on the first day of his part-time...

Divided MS Supreme Court Reverses Court of Appeals on Child Support Lien Issue

Reversing a decision by deeply divided Court of Appeals (for additional details on that earlier decision, see my post from last year), the Supreme Court of Mississippi, in a split...

SC Supreme Court Says Deceased Worker’s “Girlfriend” Failed to Show Dependency

Reversing a decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, and side-stepping — at least to some degree — the issue of illicit relationships, the Supreme Court of South Carolina found...

NC: Surviving Spouse Loses Claim for Death Benefits Since She Neither Lived With Nor Was Dependent Upon Worker at Time of His Death

A surviving spouse was not entitled to receive workers’ compensation death benefits where evidence established that she left the family home several years prior to the deceased employee’s death, rarely...

Iowa: Court Approves “Uneven” Split of Death Benefits Between American and Honduran Dependents of Deceased Undocumented Worker

The Court of Appeals of Iowa, in Carter v. Alter Trading Corp., 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 879 (Oct. 17, 2012), applying the state’s “equitable” apportionment of workers’ compensation death benefits...

Virginia: Non-Dependent Relative of Deceased Worker Caught in Catch-22

In the vast majority of states, non-dependent relatives of employees who suffer fatal work-related injuries are caught in a Catch-22. Since most state acts limit workers’ compensation death benefits to...