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Crandall Canyon Mine owner contests payout to dead miner’s family

September 26, 2008

Before his death in the Crandall Canyon mine disaster on Aug. 6, 2007, Juan Carlos Payan regularly sent money to Mexico to support his disabled father and mother and to pay for two younger sisters to go to school.

His parents, Jose Luis Payan and Isabel Villa, contend the 22-year-old was their sole source of financial support and, as a result, they are entitled to workers’ compensation death benefits of roughly $2,400 per month. Payan’s employer, Murray Energy Corp. subsidiary Genwal Resources Inc., and its insurer, Rockwood Casualty Insurance Co., rejected the parents’ claim. While acknowledging Payan supported his parents, the companies argue he must have had assistance from two siblings living in Huntington and that the parents are eligible for no more than $475 monthly.

Over the 312-week life of initial workers’ compensation dependents benefits, that amounts to a difference of about $150,000 – the $187,000 the family is seeking compared with the $37,000 the companies believe is owed. The dispute now is in the hands of Aurora Holley, a Utah Labor Commission administrative law judge, who presided Wednesday over a daylong hearing into the Payan parents’ appeal of the companies’ denial of the claim.

Read Article Salt Lake Tribune

Posted By Phoenix Accident Injury Attorneys </a

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