Opinion ID: 326183
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Conjugal Nexus

Text: 7 Thompson teaches that recovery of benefits as a surviving widow is dependent on the existence of a conjugal nexus between the claimant and the decedent at the time of the employee's death. As this court found in Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Donovan, 95 U.S.App.D.C 49, 51, 218 F.2d 860, 862 (1955), the conjugal nexus test focuses on the real status of the claimant in respect to the deceased, not the existing legal formalities of the relationship. Pointing to language in Thompson, petitioners contend that the claimant is barred from obtaining death benefits because she embarked on a permanent relationship with another man, a Mr. Mosely, prior to decedent's death. 8 Certainly, the existence of a continuing-or permanent-relationship with another man, is a factor to be weighed in ascertaining the real status of the claimant and the decedent, and it may well be that in other cases, and perhaps even in most cases, that it would negative the requisite conjugal nexus. However, we do not read Thompson as establishing the absence of a permanent relationship as a separate and indispensable requirement. 9 8 The relevant facts relating to the real status of the Valentines at the time of Mr. Valentine's death in 1970 can be briefly summarized. The couple married in 1939, had two children (Donna in 1940 and Gary in 1947), and separated in 1954. 10 About 1957, Mrs. Valentine began having sexual relations with Cleveland Mosely that resulted in the birth of a child, Leslie, in 1958. Claimant continued to have relations with Mosely up to and after the death of Mr. Valentine. Following the 1954 separation, claimant never lived in the same abode with Mosely or any other man. Decedent visited the claimant during the entire 16 year span of their separation, continued to have sexual intercourse with her, and occasionally spent two or three nights a week with her. He contributed to his wife's support for a period of about three years after the separation and gave money for support of the children (including Leslie) thereafter. He knew Mosely was Leslie's father and accepted her and his wife's relationship with Mosely. Claimant visited the decedent at the time of his illness in 1969 and helped care for him at that time. She consistently held herself out as Mrs. Valentine and was known to her friends and the community as Mrs. Valentine. Claimant never divorced the decedent or attempted to marry Mr. Mosely. 9 We believe these facts provide substantial evidence to support the Board's finding of a conjugal nexus between the Valentines at the time of the decedent's death. In Thompson the Court found that claimant's embarking upon another permanent relationship was a conscious choice to terminate her prior conjugal relationship with the decedent and to sever the bond which was the basis of her right to claim a death benefit. 11 Here, by contrast, the continuing relationship with Mosely as a boy friend did not displace claimant's relationship with the decedent so as to destroy their continued real status as husband and wife. Claimant's continued sexual relations with decedent, her consistent holding out as decedent's wife, her solicitude to decedent during his 1969 illness, his contribution of funds from his meager income, 12 his knowing acceptance of claimant's relationship with Mosely, the absence of an attempt by either party to remarry, and the fact that claimant never lived in the same abode with Mosely, all constitute a complex of circumstances that are substantial evidence to support a finding of a conjugal nexus at the time of Mr. Valentine's death.