Opinion ID: 2192828
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Step Two Cases

Text: As mentioned, only two reported appellate cases have examined the issue of whether a claimant continues to be wholly dependent after the sum of $45,000 has been paid. See Martin, supra, and Linder Crane, supra . Linder Crane does not fully address the specific issue posed in the instant case, and we need not determine whether we would adopt all aspects of its holding. Linder Crane, however, does lend support to our, and the Commission's, interpretation of § 9-681(d), which is that continues to be wholly dependent refers to the claimant continuing to be dependent on the salary of the deceased worker at the time of death. In Linder Crane the claimant was the surviving spouse of the deceased employee, who was killed in an automobile accident during the course of his employment. 86 Md.App. at 440, 586 A.2d at 1291. During their twenty-year marriage, Mr. Hogan supported the family and Mrs. Hogan was a homemaker. Id. Mrs. Hogan began a paying job two months after her husband's death, due to financial necessity brought on by a dispute as to death benefit compensability. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 440-41, 586 A.2d at 1291. Eventually, Mrs. Hogan was determined to be wholly dependent on her husband and was awarded the maximum initial workers' compensation death benefits. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 441, 586 A.2d at 1291. She quit her job approximately two weeks after receiving the $45,000. Id. The benefit payments were stopped after the $45,000 had been paid, so Mrs. Hogan filed a claim to have the benefits reinstated. Id. The Commission reinstated her benefits and the circuit court affirmed, holding: [I]t was undisputed that appellee was not working at the time the Commission continued her benefits and that she did not work during her marriage. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 442, 586 A.2d at 1292. Appeal was then made to the Court of Special Appeals. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the circuit court's holding that Mrs. Hogan's workers' compensation death benefits should be reinstated. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 447, 586 A.2d at 1294. After finding that Mrs. Hogan was wholly dependent on Mr. Hogan for the twenty years prior to his fatal accident, and that she only worked after his death for thirty-three months due to financial necessity, the court held that Mrs. Hogan remained wholly dependent on Mr. Hogan. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 443-45, 586 A.2d at 1292-94. In examining the issue of Mrs. Hogan's ability to earn money outside of the home, the court referenced Meyler for the proposition that simply because a claimant has the ability to be self-supporting does not preclude her from being wholly dependent. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 444, 586 A.2d at 1293. In support of its finding of Mrs. Hogan's total dependency, the court focused on the private marital agreement between the Hogans, stating: [Mrs. Hogan] and Joseph agreed that she should ... stay home ... while he supported the family. This was the arrangement at the time of Joseph's death. Id. (emphasis added). Basing its holding on a benevolent reading of the statute, the court held that: Frances' ability to work will not prevent her from being wholly dependent. Moreover, the fact that Frances actually earned a salary for thirty-three months will not prevent her from continuing to be deemed wholly dependent, once she terminated her employment. The courts have been reluctant to deprive a claimant of the rights of a wholly dependent, when otherwise entitled thereto, on account of temporary employment which was not intended to alter the dependency of the claimant on the worker.  (Emphasis added). Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 444, 446, 586 A.2d at 1293, 1294. The court further held that Mrs. Hogan's pressure to obtain outside employment due to necessity did not alter the arrangement that existed prior to Joseph's deaththat he supported the family and she maintained the home. Linder Crane, 86 Md.App. at 446, 586 A.2d at 1294. In ordering the continuation of benefits to Mrs. Hogan, the Linder court did not state explicitly what the surviving spouse continued to be dependent onthe workers' compensation death benefits or Mr. Hogan's salary at the time of his fatal accident. We question, however, the Court of Special Appeals' statement in Martin that [t]he Linder Crane Court looked to the income Mrs. Hogan received from Workers' Compensation benefits to determine whether she continued to be totally dependent after the amount of $45,000 had been paid. 119 Md.App. at 677, 705 A.2d at 1183. On the contrary, we can readily infer from the court's emphasis on the agreement between the Hogans that existed during their lengthy marriage, along with our prior case law and the need for a liberal construction of the Act favoring the claimant, that the Linder Crane court found Mrs. Hogan continued to be wholly dependent on the salary of Mr. Hogan at the time of his death.