settlement;? after person dies

[highdesertguy]

hello everyone; first of all thanks for all your opinions in this forum
I have found it very helpful; this is my question; MY brother past away 3 weeks ago; he was involved in a lawsuit vs. state of california
due to injuries he received while working at a mental hospital for the state;he was suppossed to reach a settlement within weeks of his death
my question is this;can the court award my mother any settlement; since she was his dependent;or is the case pretty much over now that he has passed on??I we spoke to his lawyer and he told us that is up to the judge;is this true? can he just say; end of the case and close it;I found this so unfair but ; I would appreciate any help or advise .THANKS

[1171]

was the death work related?
generally work comp benefits other then death benefits are not available to those who are not injured on the employers job.
any benefits accruing to the injured worker up to the date of death can be payable to survivors but it sounds like there was a dispute about that issue.

[highdesertguy]

we dont know if it was work related; we know he became addicted to a lot of medication for the past 5 yrs;he died in his sleep; we dont know if he overmedicated himself or had some liver problems due to medications; or some reaction to mix medications

[Bad Boy Bad Boy]

What was his injury?

For it doesn't sound death related.

[highdesertguy]

he had a L1-L2 SPINAL FUSION he had some hardware inside
could never really recover from surgery;in other words he never got better;all this because of injuries received at the work facility years back

[sparkey]

From what I gather your saying that he was injured at work 5 yrs ago and that he died in his sleep and he was near settlement and now you are wondering who will be getting his settlement now that he has passed on?

First off I want to say sorry for the loss of your brother and I personally do not know how that works because I do not know if he was married and had a will. From what I read it sounded like he was not married because you mentioned your mother receiving the settlement money etc.

I wish I could help you but I know I read somewhere on a workers comp. website about when someone is injured and they pass on before they settle what happens to the money. I am sure also maybe someone else may come along that may also be able to help. Again , so sorry for your loss.

[1171]

unfortunately there is 240 week time limit --from the date of injury- in which to bring a claim for dependency benefits.
sometimes attys offer simple answers to complex questions.
while the comp court has some discretion in their opinions, they cannot make up laws and such a finding -in the absence of strong evidence that there was a "settlement" - would likely be appealled.

[highdesertguy]

thank you all for your input;I do appreciate it