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Martin v. Beverage Capital Corporation3/25/1999
Md. App. at 677, 705 A.2d at 1183. On the contrary, we can readily infer from the court's emphasis on the agreement between the Hogans that existed during their lengthy marriage, along with our prior case law and the need for a liberal construction of the Act favoring the claimant, that the Linder Crane court found Mrs. Hogan "continued to be wholly dependent" on the salary of Mr. Hogan at the time of his death.
C. The Law as Applied to This Case
In applying the Maryland law discussed supra, while concurrently reading the Act liberally in order to effectuate its benevolent purpose of compensating injured workers and their families, we hold that Mrs. Martin "continues to be wholly dependent" under 9-681(d) on Mr. Martin's income at the time of his fatal accident. For the reasons discussed below, we find that the Court of Special Appeals erred in holding that Mrs. Martin could only continue to receive compensation if she had an ongoing dependency on the death benefits. As we will elaborate infra, Mr. Martin, the deceased spouse, earned an average of $200,000 per year while he was alive. In stark contrast is the average salary of Mrs. Martin, the surviving spouse, of approximately $15,000 per year. After Mrs. Martin received the initial $45,000, she was still earning approximately $15,000 per year; therefore, she "continues to be wholly dependent" if her circumstances have not changed since the initial dependency determination was made.
Respondents assert that 9-681(d) is ambiguous as to the identity of the payment source upon which the surviving spouse must continue to be dependent, but we find no ambiguity in the statute. Indeed, the plain language of 9-681(d) itself states "at the time of death" when discussing the initial determination of dependency. Therefore, if the Act makes the awarding of initial benefits dependent on the salary of the deceased spouse at the time of death (see 9-681(b)), then it is only logical and consistent that determinations of ongoing dependency under 9-681(d) should also depend on the salary of the deceased spouse. In addition, even if we did find ambiguity in the language of 9-681(d), we must resolve all such ambiguities in favor of the claimant, Mrs. Martin, as it was the intent of the legislature that the Act be liberally construed to effect its broad remedial goal. As such, we must also examine 9-681(d) in context of the Act's overall remedial scheme, not in isolation. For example, 9-681(a), which empowers the Commission to decide whether the claimant is wholly or partially dependent on the deceased employee after the worker's death, provides: "If there are individuals who were wholly dependent on a deceased covered employee at the time of death resulting from an accidental personal injury or occupational disease, the employer or its insurer shall pay death benefits in accordance with this section." (Emphasis added). Section 9-681(c), which governs the duration of benefits, states that death benefits are to be paid "(1) for the period of total dependency; or (2) until $45,000 has been paid." (Emphasis added).
Thus, when subsection (d) is read within the overall context of 9-681, there is no language to indicate that the issue of total dependency after the $45,000 has been paid should focus on a continued dependency "on the benefits." To the contrary, if subsection (a) is read as a preamble to the rest of the section, including subsection (d), it plainly states that the test for determining total dependency is "individuals who were wholly dependent on a deceased covered employee at the time of death." The logical inference from this reading is that for a claimant to continue to be wholly dependent, he or she must have an ongoing dependency
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