Workers' Comp Case Win Establishes Survivor’s Right to Benefits After Suicide

Willig, Williams & Davidson Case Win Establishes Survivor’s Right to Workers’ Comp Benefits After Suicide

Willig, Williams & Davidson has successfully established a widow’s right to fatal benefits following her husband’s suicide after a work injury. This significant legal victory could pave the way for dependents in Pennsylvania to more easily seek benefits following a decedent’s death by suicide.

In a decision published May 24, 2021, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed the award of payments to the widow of a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) mechanic who died by suicide after suffering a work-related back injury. In SEPTA v. WCAB (Hansell), the appeals court rejected SEPTA’s arguments that the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act barred benefits following a suicide. Instead, the court relied on our firm’s argument supporting the “chain of causation” test and affirmed the award of fatal benefits that could continue for the remainder of the widow’s life.

The decedent had been a loyal, long-term SEPTA employee when he injured his lower back while at work on June 17, 2016. Following the injury, he struggled with physical pain and gradual, ongoing mental anguish. His widow testified that before the injury, the decedent was “fun-loving, caring, a wonderful father, good husband, [and] loved sports. Everything he did was for [his son] and [the claimant]. [He was] just [a] family man.” After the work injury, the decedent became “depressed, obsessed, paranoid, delusional, illogical, [and] irrational.” Tragically, on March 19, 2017, the decedent died by suicide at the family home. We filed a fatal claim petition on behalf of the widow and her son, alleging that the June 2016 work injury caused the suicide.

After the widow and a forensic psychiatrist testified, the workers’ compensation judge granted the claim. The judge’s thorough decision noted the change in the decedent following his work injury and found that his suicide resulted from severe depression related to the work injury. SEPTA appealed, arguing that workers’ compensation benefits did not apply to an intentional act pursuant to Section 301(a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act. SEPTA further argued that, even if a claim for suicide were allowed, the widow would have to establish that her husband had faced “abnormal working conditions” to justify an award. In addition, SEPTA argued to drastically limit the situations under which a suicide would be covered, effectively removing suicide from coverage under Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation law. The Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board affirmed the earlier decision, and SEPTA appealed to the Commonwealth Court, which rejected SEPTA’s arguments and held that the workers’ compensation judge correctly relied on our “chain of causation” test.

The Commonwealth Court noted that Section 301(a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act generally prevents a worker from receiving benefits for a self-inflicted injury or intentional act. However, pursuant to the “chain of causation” test that the court established in McCoy v. WCAB (McCoy Catering Services, Inc.), workers’ compensation payments for a suicide are awardable when the decedent’s dependents can establish that:

1) a work injury occurred,

2) the work injury directly caused the decedent to become dominated by a disturbance of the mind of such severity as to override normal rational judgment, and

3) the disturbance of mind resulted in decedent’s suicide.

If the decedent’s dependents can meet this standard, the death qualifies as not “intentional” and is compensable. In Hansell, the Commonwealth Court credited the widow’s evidence in determining that the decedent suffered “a disturbance of the mind of such severity as to override rational judgment.” Hence, even though the decedent deliberately died by suicide, his actions did not remove his death from coverage under the Workers’ Compensation Act; he did not act intentionally because the injury overwhelmed his rational judgment.

The Commonwealth Court then rejected SEPTA’s argument that the widow must establish that her husband faced “abnormal working conditions” to successfully claim benefits for suicide. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court developed the “abnormal working conditions” requirement for mental/psychological work injuries in 1990 in Martin v. Ketchum. It now applies to every claim for a purely mental or psychological injury in Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth Court’s decision in Hansell, however, establishes that a dependent need not prove abnormal working conditions in a suicide claim.

The Commonwealth Court’s decision in Hansell is an important win because it protects the right to fatal benefits for a suicide due to a work injury. If the court did not apply the “chain of causation” test and instead focused on suicide’s intentionality or required the showing of abnormal working conditions, dependents would have effectively lost the right to successfully claim benefits for a loved one’s suicide following a work injury. The decision plainly confirms the legitimacy and compensability of psychological conditions and establishes a road map for families who tragically find themselves dealing with a suicide following a work injury.

If you have questions or would like to discuss a work injury or workers’ compensation claim with us, please feel free to call Willig, Williams & Davidson’s work injury lawyers at 866-413-COMP (2667) or 215-656-3600.

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