Background
Donald Nadeau was married to Carol Brewster when he suffered serious work-related injuries while employed by S.D. Warren in 1985. Brewster, who worked part-time as a nurse, was financially dependent on Nadeau at that time. The couple divorced in 1997 without spousal support, and Brewster remarried in 2011.
Nadeau died in 2020 from complications of his work injuries. Brewster sought workers’ compensation death benefits. An administrative law judge found that she was dependent on Nadeau when he was injured and had not become dependent on another person, then awarded benefits. The Workers’ Compensation Board Appellate Division affirmed.
The Court’s Holding
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed. Under the version of 39 M.R.S.A. § 58 governing Nadeau’s pre-1993 injury, a claimant need only have been dependent on the employee at the time of injury to qualify for death benefits; the statute does not also require dependency when the employee dies.
The court held that the statutory text unambiguously fixes dependency at the time of injury. The definition of “dependent” likewise repeatedly uses that timing, while other provisions expressly refer to the time of death when the Legislature intended that benchmark. The court concluded that imposing a second, time-of-death dependency requirement would add language the Legislature did not enact.
Key Takeaways
- For claims governed by former 39 M.R.S.A. § 58, dependency for death-benefit eligibility is determined at the time of the employee’s injury.
- A former spouse may qualify even if divorced from the employee and no longer dependent on the employee when the employee later dies.
- The court treated the statute’s text as controlling despite policy concerns about benefits where dependency ended long before death.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that Maine’s date-of-injury framework can preserve death-benefit eligibility despite major later changes in a claimant’s relationship or finances. It also reinforces that courts will apply the statutory timing rule as written, leaving policy-based revisions to the Legislature.