Lankford v. Mayor of Federalsburg

Morton, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal in a workmen's compensation case from an order entered in the Circuit Court for Caroline County which affirmed the decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission denying appellant's claim for compensation. The case was tried before Judge K. Thomas Everngam on an agreed statement of facts which is set forth below. On October 4,1970, Charles H. Lankford was injured in the course of his employment as a police officer for the Mayor and Council of Federalsburg, Maryland.

The town’s insurance carrier Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company thereafter paid him compensation for four years temporary total disability from the date of his accident until October 4,1974. After a hearing and by an order filed July 8, 1977, the Workmen’s Compensation Commission awarded him $35 per week compensation for twenty weeks for disfigurement and further compensation at the rate of $65 per week (beginning October 5, 1974) but not to exceed $30,355 allowable under “other cases” pursuant to Section 36 (3a) and (4a) of Article 101, for 70% industrial loss of use of the body as a result of injuries to his left arm, right arm, left leg and ribs. Thereafter Charles H. Lankford was employed as a Deputy Sheriff of Caroline County, Maryland, and died as a result of an injury received in a melee at the Federalsburg Carnival on July 29, 1977. The insurer of the County Commissioners of Caroline County, the employer of Mr. Lankford, was the State ³⁹⁵ Accident Fund.

In a case entitled Ruth Lankford (widow) of Charles H. Lankford (deceased) v. County Commissioners of Caroline County and State Accident Fund (Claim No. A 69-33-57), and after a hearing, Commissioner Edward A. Palamara passed an order dated August 30,1978, making an award of compensation to the widow of $45,000 in weekly payments of $98 (plus further payments after $45,000 was paid if she continued to be wholly dependent) and $1,200 toward his funeral expenses. After another hearing, Commissioner William R. Hughes passed an order dated December 21, 1978 (Claim No. A 49-87-89) on the issue: “Is widow, Ruth Lankford, entitled to remainder of Award to deceased claimant, Charles H. Lankford.” Commissioner Hughes found that “the claim is abated by the compensable death” and closed the file and claim in the case by “Charles H. Lankford against Mayor & Council and Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company.” Thereupon, the Mayor & Council of Federalsburg and its insurer, Hartford Accident & Indemnity, terminated the weekly compensation benefits to Charles H. Lankford under the “other cases” award to him dated July 8, 1977. The single issue before this Court, as it was below, is whether the Commission properly found that the original compensation awarded to Mr. Lankford was abated or terminated by his “compensable death,” thereby precluding his widow, the appellant, from receiving the remaining payments to which her husband would have been entitled but for his death. Resolution of the issue requires a construction of Md. Code, art. 101, § 86 (4) (c), which reads: “If any employee dies from any cause or causes not compensable under this article, the right to any compensation payable under this subsection and subsections (3) and (5), unpaid at the date of his death, shall survive to his surviving dependents as the Commission may determine, if there be such ³⁹⁶ surviving dependents, and if there be none such, then to his wife and children under eighteen years of age if there was, at the time of his death, a legal obligation on the part of said employee to support his wife, and if there was no such obligation,