West Virginia Supreme Court: Widow Entitled to Husband’s Workers’ Comp

The West Virginia Supreme Court says a Rhode Island woman whose husband died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a hotel is entitled to West Virginia workers’ compensation benefits.

The state Workers’ Compensation Board of Review had ruled Louise Moran could not receive the West Virginia benefits because she had earlier been awarded benefits in Rhode Island.

The high court overturned the board’s finding, saying Moran was eligible for benefits because those awarded in Rhode Island were suspended in December 2014 after she settled a civil action.

William J. Moran of Warwick, Rhode Island, was employed by a Rhode Island contractor and was staying at a South Charleston hotel when a carbon monoxide leak from the swimming pool’s heating unit killed him and sickened several other people in January 2012.