Workplace Death Benefits: What Families Are Owed & Why Insurers Resist

Video Transcript

Unfortunately, accidents don’t always end with a surgery to repair the injury. Some accidents result in the death of a spouse. The Workers’ Compensation Act is specifically drafted to provide substantial benefits to the spouse and dependents of those workers who’ve died on the job. Our experience is that many insurance providers don’t want to pay for a death claim, and will drag their feet on your benefits, or simply deny the case outright. Recently, we had the honor of representing a widow whose husband died on the job — a job that he worked at for 42 years — from what the employer and the coroner described as a mere heart attack. After investigating the death and meeting with his widow, we learned that the worker’s death was a heart attack, but it was caused by a verbal altercation, a physical threatening by another worker at the job moments before his death. The employer and insurance carrier knew this, but denied the case anyways, hoping our client would simply go away. After two years of intense litigation, we secured a settlement for our client for six figures and, more importantly, the justice she and her husband deserved.