Workers’ Comp Decision from Manchester Shooting Redefines ‘Family’

According to the Connecticut Law Tribune, a case recently decided by Middletown Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Daniel Dilzer redefines a “family” by stressing the nature of relationships over blood relationships. In the case, Commissioner Dilzer awarded workers’ comp benefits to Stephanie Lauren, the fiancée of William Ackerman, Jr., who was killed in the shooting spree at Hartford Distributors in Manchester last summer. Dilzer found that Lauren was eligible to collect Ackerman’s survivor’s benefits because she was his “dependant in fact,” despite not being married to him.