Fuller, Therese C. v. Amer Fed Labor/Cong.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.

RANDOLPH, Circuit Judge:

After seven years an individual who disappears without a trace is, under common law and the laws of several states, presumed dead. The issue here is whether there is also a presumption that the individual died on the last day of the seven-year period, or in other words, that the individual was alive until that time.

After her husband died in 1977, Doris Cornwell began receiving surviving spouse benefits under the AFL-CIO Staff Retirement Plan for Employees, of which her husband was a member. The Plan entitled her to…