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Ranney v. Whitewater Engineering10/14/2005
No. 5949
Before: Bryner, Chief Justice, Matthews, Eastaugh, Fabe, and Carpeneti, Justices.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Alaska Workers' Compensation Act provides that when an employee suffers a work-related death, the employee's surviving widow or widower is eligible for death benefits. When Sharon Ranney sought death benefits after the work-related death of her long-term partner, Gary Stone, the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board ruled that she was not eligible for benefits because she and Stone had never been married. Ranney challenges this ruling, arguing that the board misinterpreted the workers' compensation act and violated her rights to privacy and equal protection under the Alaska Constitution. We affirm the board's decision, holding that the decision correctly interpreted the act and did not deprive Ranney of her constitutional rights, since denying spousal death benefits to Ranney did not substantially burden her freedom to have an unmarried intimate relationship with Stone and was fairly and substantially related to the act's goal of providing quick, efficient, fair, and predictable benefits to families of deceased workers at a reasonable cost to employers.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Sharon Ranney and Gary Stone became romantically involved in the spring of 1995 and moved in together that fall. Although Stone and Ranney were never legally married, they lived together as a couple until Gary Stone's death in April 1999.
While together they shared a joint checking account. They were jointly listed in the Cordova telephone book. And they purchased various kinds of machinery together - a small sawmill, a crane, and a truck. Stone also purchased a life-insurance policy and named Ranney the primary beneficiary. Although Ranney worked off and on throughout their relationship, she depended on Stone's income to maintain her standard of living. Ranney submitted many affidavits from friends attesting to the couple's intent to get married. And Ranney testified that Stone bought her a wedding ring in 1997 and that he formally proposed to her in March of 1999.
In April 1999 Stone was killed in a work-related accident while employed by Whitewater Engineering. Ranney then filed a claim for death benefits as Stone's "unmarried spouse." Whitewater and its insurer, Fremont Compensation/Cambridge Integrated Services Group, controverted Ranney's claim on the ground that she was never Stone's wife and that she was therefore not entitled to benefits under the act.
In addressing Ranney's claim, the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board noted that AS 23.30.215 provides for the payment of death benefits to the "widow or widower or a child or children of the deceased." Because the act defines "widow" to include "only the decedent's wife living with or dependent for support upon the decedent at the time of death, or living apart for justifiable cause or by reason of the decedent's desertion at such a time," the board reasoned that Ranney would qualify as "the decedent's wife" only if she had actually been married to Stone. Since Ranney had never married Stone, the board concluded that she was ineligible for benefits as his "wife."
After appealing to the superior court, which affirmed the board's decision, Ranney filed this appeal.
III. DISCUSSION
On appeal, Ranney argues that the unmarried partners of deceased employees are eligible to receive death benefits under the workers' compensation act. Moreover, if the act does not cover unmarried but committed relationships like hers and Stone's, Ranney asserts, it violates her rights to privacy and equal protection under the Alaska Constitutio
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