Carol Brewster v. S.D. Warren/Sappi N.A.

Summary

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed a divided decision of the Appellate Division of the Workers' Compensation Board awarding death benefits to Carol Brewster, the former spouse of Donald Nadeau, who died in 2020 from complications of a 1985 work injury. The court held that 39 M.R.S.A. § 58 unambiguously ties eligibility for death benefits to dependency at the time of injury alone, so Brewster's undisputed dependency on Nadeau in 1985 sufficed despite their 1997 divorce and her lack of dependency at his death. Applying the plain meaning of section 58, the definition of 'dependent' in 39-A M.R.S. § 102(8), prior precedent, and the purposes of the Workers' Compensation Act, the court rejected the employer's contention that dependency must also exist at the time of death.