Missouri Supreme Court Rejects Benefit Claim from Surviving Partner of Highway Patrolman

Missouri law provides that the surviving spouse of a public employee who is killed in the line of duty be entitled to a death benefit equal to half of the deceased employee’s final average compensation.   The statute, adopted in 1969, did not define “spouse,” but was supplemented in 2004 with a definition of “spouse” in accord with the newly-enacted state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

When a Missouri state highway patrolman, Corporal Dennis Engelhard, was … <Read More>


Court Awards Survivor’s Benefits to Same-Sex Spouse

U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones, II (E.D.Pa.), ruled July 29 that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) should be construed, now that DOMA Section 3 has been declared unconstitutional, to recognize a same-sex marriage for purposes of an employee benefit plan when the married couple resided in a state that recognized the validity of the marriage.  The ruling means that Jennifer J. Tobits will be entitled to a survivor’s benefit under the … <Read More>