Hertz v. Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare

*57MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

TROUTMAN, District Judge.

Before this Court are cross-motions for summary judgment filed by the plaintiff and defendant, respectively. Plaintiff instituted an action in this Court for benefits under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, 30 U.S.C. § 901 et seq., after her claim was heard and denied by an administrative law judge (ALJ) and by the Appeals Council of the Social Security Administration.

The plaintiff’s decedent, John W. Hertz, committed suicide on July 8,1971, by hanging. The easy and almost irresistable conclusion suggested by such fact, namely, that…