Myrtle Clark v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor

Mrs. Myrtle Clark, the widow of a coal miner, petitions this court for review of a decision in which the Benefits Review Board held (1) that Mrs. Clark had abandoned her initial claim for death benefits, and (2) that the Administrative Law Judge erred in awarding such benefits to Mrs. Clark after considering her second claim therefor. We shall affirm the Board’s decision on the abandonment issue, but reverse it insofar as Mrs. Clark’s second claim for benefits was denied.

I

The decedent, Kenneth Clark, worked in the coal mines for nine and three-quarter years before he died in 1972 at the age…