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Contents of Main Volume | Contents of Supplement
DISCLAIMER: The Longshore Benchbook was created solely to assist the Office of Administrative Law Judges as a first reference in researching cases arising under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, and extension acts, as amended. This Benchbook does not constitute the official opinion of the Department of Labor, the Office of Administrative Law Judges, or any individual judge on any subject. This Benchbook does not necessarily contain an exhaustive or current treatment of case holdings, and should, under no circumstances, substitute for a party's own research into the statutory, regulatory, and case law authorities on any given subject referred to therein. It is intended to be used as a research tool, not as final legal authority and should not be cited or relied upon as such.
PDF Version: Volume I (Topics 1-21) | Volume II (Topics 22-90)
Description |
Topic |
Compensation for Death |
9 |
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9.1 |
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9.3 |
TOPIC 9
Topic 9.1
Compensation for Death–Application of Section 9
Cooper/T. Smith Stevedoring Co. v. Liuzza, 293 F.3d
741 (5th Cir. 2002).
The Fifth Circuit held that in view of the language of Section 14 and
Congressional intent, the court's precedent addressing similar issues, and the
deference owed the Director's interpretation, Section 14(j) does not provide a
basis for an employer to be reimbursed for its overpayment of a deceased
employee's disability payments by collecting out of unpaid installments of the
widow's death benefits. In reaching this holding, the court referenced Oceanic
Butler, Inc. v. Nordahl, 842 F.2d 773 (5th Cir. 1988) (An employer and
insurer were not entitled to offset the disability settlement amount against
liability to the employee's widow for death benefits.)
Topic 9.3
Compensation for Death--Death Benefits--Survivors––Spouse and Child
Duck v. Fluid Crane & Construction, 36 BRBS 120
(2002).
Here the Board upheld the ALJ's finding that Sections 2(14) and 9 of the LHWCA
provide that a legitimate or adopted child is eligible for benefits without
requiring proof of dependency but that an illegitimate child is eligible for
death benefits only if she is acknowledged and dependent on the decedent.
The Board first noted that it has held that it possesses sufficient statutory
authority to decide substantive questions of law including the constitutional
validity of statutes and regulations within its jurisdiction. Herrington v.
Savannah Machine & Shipyard Co., 17 BRBS 194 (1985); see also Gibas
v. Saginaw Mining Co., 748 F.2d 1112 (6th Cir. 1984).
The Board found that the instant case was akin to Mathews v. Lucas, 427 U.S.
495 (1976). In Lucas, the Supreme Court sustained provisions of
the Social Security Act governing the eligibility for surviving children's
insurance benefits, observing that one of the statutory conditions of
eligibility was dependency upon the deceased wage earner. Although the Social
Security Act presumed dependency for a number of categories of children,
including some categories of illegitimate children, it required that the
remaining illegitimate children prove actual dependency. The Court held
that the "statute does not broadly discriminate between legitimates and
illegitimates without more, but is carefully tuned to alternative
considerations." Lucas, 427 U.S. at 513. The presumption of
dependency, observed the Court, is withheld only in the absence of any
significant indication of the likelihood of actual dependency and where the
factors that give rise to a presumption of dependency lack any substantial
relation to the likelihood of actual dependency. In identifying these factors,
the Court relied predominantly on the Congressional purpose in adopting the
statutory presumptions of dependency, i.e., to serve administrative
convenience.
Applying the court's holding in Lucas, Section 2(14) does not
"broadly discriminate between legitimates and illegitimates, without
more," but rather is "carefully tuned to alternative
considerations" by withholding a presumption of dependency to illegitimate
children "only in the absence of any significant indication of the
likelihood of actual dependency." Lucas, 427 U.S. at 513.
The Board found that the LHWCA's distinction between legitimate and
illegitimate children is reasonable, for as the Court stated in Lucas,
"[i]t is clearly rational to presume [that] the overwhelming number of
legitimate children are actually dependent upon their parents for support,
" Lucas, 427 U.S. at 513, while, in contrast, illegitimate
children are not generally expected to be actually dependent on their fathers
for support.
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