Employer Not Liable for Unpaid Balance of PTD Award After Worker Died

Maryland's highest court this week unanimously ruled that a worker's daughter was not entitled to the balance of his disability benefits after he died for reasons unconnected to his industrial injury. The Court of Appeals, in what one attorney called a case of first impression, ruled that a state law that capped posthumous total disability awards at $45,000 applied to claimant Carville Hollingsworth's case, even though liability for the claim had been apportioned between the employer and the Second Injury Fund. Lower-level adjudicators had reached a variety of opinions ...