Rico v. Industrial Commission

OPINION

MARTONE, Justice.

We granted review to determine whether the spouse of a deceased worker has standing to claim workers’ compensation death benefits when she was married to the worker at the time of death but not at the time of trauma. We answer this question in the affirmative because, as we hold in the companion case of Dunn v. Industrial Comm’n, 177 Ariz. 190, 866 P.2d 858 (1994), dependency determinations under AR.S. § 23-1046 and AR.S. § 23-1064 are made at the time of the worker’s death. Because Tina Rico was married to Roy Rico on the date of his death, she has standing to claim…