Court reverses death benefits granted to fianceé

An appeals court in Texas ruled Thursday that a woman engaged to be married to a man killed on the job in 2016 is not entitled to death benefits, reversing earlier rulings that granted her benefits as a fiancée.

The parents of Nathan Fryday and his fiancée Lacey Ochoa sought workers compensation death benefits, which his employer’s workers compensation insurer Texas Mutual Insurance Co. disputed, as Ms. Ochoa was not Mr. Fryday’s formal spouse. The Division of Workers’ Compensation, however, found she was entitled to benefits as an informal spouse, according to documents in Texas Mutual Insurance Co. v. Ochoa, filed in the Court of Appeals of Texas, 13th District, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The insurer appealed and a trial court in response stated Ms. Ochoa was entitled to summary judgment, awarding her death benefits in line with the DWC’s decision.

The appeals court reversed, finding evidence “presented by TMIC that Ochoa and Fryday were engaged in March of 2016, and agreed to be married at some point in the future with no date yet set, is evidence that they were not presently married at the time of Fryday’s death. An agreement to be married at some point in the future will not suffice.”