94-0710. CINDY M. ALLEN Widow of and AMANDA M. SENN Minor stepdaughter of DAVID ALLEN Deceased s vs. TAWSCO INDUSTRIES INC. and THE WORKERS COMPENSATION FUND OF UTAH Defendants.

• Court: Utah

Utah Workers Compensation Decisions 1995. 94-0710. CINDY M. ALLEN Widow of and AMANDA M. SENN Minor stepdaughter of DAVID ALLEN Deceased s vs. TAWSCO INDUSTRIES INC. and THE WORKERS COMPENSATION FUND OF UTAH Defendants THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF UTAHCINDY M. ALLEN, Widow of, and AMANDA M. SENN, Minor stepdaughter of, DAVID ALLEN, Deceased, Applicants, vs. TAWSCO INDUSTRIES, INC. and THE WORKERS COMPENSATION FUND OF UTAH, Defendants.Case No. 94-0710ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR REVIEWTawsco Industries, Inc. and its workers' compensation insurance carrier, The Workers Compensation Fund of Utah (referred to jointly as "Tawsco" hereafter) ask The Industrial Commission of Utah to review the Administrative Law Judge's award of survivors' benefits to Cindy M. Allen and Amanda M. Senn, pursuant to the Utah Workers' Compensation Act. The Industrial Commission exercises jurisdiction over this motion for review pursuant to Utah Code Ann. §63-46b-12, Utah Code Ann. §35-1-82.53, and Utah Admin. Code R568-1-4.M. ISSUE UNDER REVIEW Have Ms. Allen and Ms. Senn ("applicants" hereafter) proved by a preponderance of evidence that Mr. Allen's death was caused by the industrial accident he suffered on December 15, 1987, while employed by Tawsco. FINDINGS OF FACT The facts of this case are not in dispute. On December 15, 1987, Mr. Allen was injured in a work-related accident that rendered him paraplegic. As a result, he was awarded permanent total disability benefits under the Utah Workers' Compensation Act. On April 11, 1994, Mr. Allen died from pneumonia complicated by arteriosclerotic cardiac disease. By letter dated May 6, 1994, Dr. Middleton, Mr. Allen's treating physician, expressed the following medical opinion:

Certainly, his paraplegia would have to be considered a major contributing factor to both of those disease processes which apparently led to his demise.

No other medical evidence or opinion has been submitted, either by applicants or by Tawsco. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW Section 35-1-68(5) of the Utah Workers' Compensation Act provides in material part as follows:

If injury cases death within a period of 312 weeks(fn1) from the date of the accident, the employer or insurance carrier shall pay the burial expenses of the deceased as provided by Section 35-1-81, and further benefits in the amounts and to the persons as follows . . .

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