This workers' compensation claim for death benefits was made by the Florida wife of a Cuban construction worker who was killed while working on a construction job in Northeast Mississippi. It was discovered that the the decedent had previously married while in Cuba, and had not obtained a divorce from his first wife. The employer had difficulty properly authenticating the marriage certificate prior to the hearing before the state Workers' Compensation Commission.
Due to the unfairness of the workers' compensation statute, the maximum allowable lump sum recovery was approximately $40,000. The case settled for $30,000.