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Lambda Legal Argues for Workers' Compensation Benefits for American Airlines 587 Surviving Domestic Partner in NY Appeals Court Today

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Saying past rulings in New York State respect same-sex couples' relationships, Lambda Legal asks for fairness in spousal benefits at today's oral argument
January 12, 2005

(Albany, N.Y., Wednesday, January 12, 2005) — A New York State appeals court will hear oral argument from Lambda Legal this afternoon on whether the surviving domestic partner of a gay man is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits given to people whose spouses die on the job.


Lambda Legal represents Bill Valentine, the surviving spouse of Joe Lopes, who died on November 12, 2001, while working as a flight attendant on American Airlines flight 587 when it crashed shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Airport. Lopes and Valentine had been in a relationship for more than 21 years. The couple was financially interdependent, constructed powers of attorney agreements and was among the first couples in New York City to register as domestic partners in 1994.


“Not only did Bill and Joe regard themselves as spouses, but their families, friends, neighbors, coworkers and employers did, as well. Their relationship was as strong and committed as any healthy marriage,” said Adam Aronson, staff attorney for Lambda Legal and lead attorney on this case. “They did everything under the law that could be done in the state of New York to protect themselves and demonstrate that they were a loving, committed couple who planned to spend the rest of their lives together.”


But despite a history of recognizing unmarried couples as spouses, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board denied benefits to Valentine in July 2003 because he and Lopes did not possess a marriage certificate. “This is a legal error,” Aronson said. “Hundreds of couples, who are not gay or lesbian, are recognized as spouses in New York State -- even when they do not have a marriage license. From common law marriages to Vermont civil unions, New York State has a sound legal history of respecting couples’ relationships equally.”


Lambda Legal won the first case in the nation in 2003 that appropriately recognized a couple who entered into a Vermont civil union as spouses outside that state, when John Langan won his right to sue St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York for medical negligence leading to his longtime same-sex spouse’s death. Lambda Legal has also worked to make sure Canadian marriages of same-sex couples are respected throughout New York State, with numerous employers, insurance providers and municipalities respecting the unions. Lambda Legal currently represents several New York City couples in a lawsuit in state court in Manhattan seeking marriage licenses. A ruling from the trial court in that case is pending.


Aronson is the lead attorney for Lambda Legal in Valentine v. New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, et. al.

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