Martin v. Beverage Capital Corporation3/25/1999
ce in addition to what is received out of the earnings of the deceased." Mullan Construction Co. v. Day, 218 Md. 581, 586, 147 A.2d 756, 759 (1959)(emphasis added).
Mario Anello, supra, was the first case to apply the consequential contribution test. In Mario Anello, Mrs. Dunn, the claimant, had pooled her significant earnings with that of her husband's for several years and used them to support the family. 217 Md. at 180, 141 A.2d at 733. In finding Mrs. Dunn to be partially dependent, we held that we were "unable to say that a jury could properly find, or infer, that her earnings were not a consequential part of her maintenance; therefore she was not wholly dependent upon her husband." 217 Md. at 183, 141 A.2d at 734.
Mullan Construction, supra, following on the heels of Mario Anello, supra, also involved a wife pooling her earnings with her deceased husband. As in Mario Anello, we found that Mrs. Day was partially, not totally, dependent on her deceased husband, as she made almost fifty percent of her husband's salary. Mullan Construction, 218 Md. at 588, 590, 147 A.2d at 760, 761. We held that:
" here the earnings of [Mrs. Day] were substantial, where she did not subsist solely out of the earnings of her husband, and where she either could not or would not account for more than half of her net earnings, she cannot establish the status of a total dependent by merely claiming she did not pool her earnings with those of her husband." Mullan Construction, 218 Md. at 589, 147 A.2d at 760.
In yet another pooled income case, Toadvine v. Luffman examined whether the deceased employee's two minor children were totally dependent on him at the time of his death. 14 Md. App. 333, 286 A.2d 790 (1972). The court applied the consequential contribution test and found that because the "mother's contributions were a substantial source, about 40%, of the total funds," the children were not totally dependent on their deceased father. Toadvine, 14 Md. App. at 346-47, 286 A.2d at 797. The court stated that " he mother's contributions were regular as distinguished from occasional, permanent as distinguished from temporary, substantial as distinguished from minor." Toadvine, 14 Md. App. at 346, 286 A.2d at 797 (emphasis added). See also Simmons v. B & E Landscaping Co., 256 Md. 13, 15, 259 A.2d 314, 316 (1969)(upholding the trial judge's conclusion that "`the mother's contribution to this family [cannot] be deemed either occasional or inconsequential. She ... was and is the bulk of the support of her children.'").
Thus, as these "step one" cases demonstrate, a claimant can be found a total dependent even though he or she has received occasional financial aid or benefits from sources other than the deceased worker. However, if these additional benefits constitute a consequential contribution to the claimant's own support, then a finding of total dependency will be defeated.
3. "Step Two" Cases
As mentioned, only two reported appellate cases have examined the issue of whether a claimant "continues to be wholly dependent" after the sum of $45,000 has been paid. See Martin, supra, and Linder Crane, supra. Linder Crane does not fully address the specific issue posed in the instant case, and we need not determine whether we would adopt all aspects of its holding. Linder Crane, however, does lend support to our, and the Commission's, interpretation of 9-681(d), which is that "continues to be wholly dependent" refers to the claimant continuing to be dependent on the salary of the deceased worker at the time of death.
In Linder Crane the claimant was the surviving spouse of the deceased employee, who was killed in an automobile accident
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