Department of Labor & Industries v. Baker

We are asked to decide whether the widow of a deceased worker who, because of an industrial injury, was permanently and totally disabled at the time of his death, is eligible for survivorship benefits where the worker's death was a deliberate and knowing suicide. We hold that the widow is entitled to benefits, and we reverse a trial court decision to the contrary.

Gerald Baker committed suicide on March 27, 1986. The Department of Labor and Industries denied his widow's application for survivor benefits because, it said, the death was the result of a "deliberate and conscious intent to take…