8.5 Independent Status of Death Benefit Claims

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

. The rights of surviving spouses, children, parents, and siblings to death compensation benefits derive from statute and not from the employee’s right to compensation. Neither a decision adverse to the employee’s own claim nor his or her compromise of the claim can in any way impair the survivors’ rights to death compensation benefits.^[71] If, however, the deceased employee had rejected the right to compensation before his or her injury, no death compensation benefits are possible.^[72]

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^[71]Magma Copper Co. v. Naglich, supra note 65; Kay v. Hillside Mines, Inc., 54 Ariz. 36, 91 P.2d 867 (1939); Garcia v. Industrial Comm’n, 141 Ariz. 184, 685 P.2d 1336 (Ct. App. 1984); Bedel v. Industrial Comm’n, 11 Ariz. App. 209, 463 P.2d 104 (1970).

^[72]Coyner v. Industrial...