The state of Minnesota wants at least $1 million of the insurance money being paid to the heirs of the campaign workers who died in the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone last year.
Attorneys representing the state say some of the $25 million insurance settlement received by the families of the crash victims earlier this year should be used to replenish a fund set up to protect injured workers whose employers have failed to provide workers' compensation coverage as required by law.
It was discovered after the Oct. 25, 2002, crash that the Wellstone for Senate Committee did not purchase the necessary workers' compensation policy for its employees. Four of those workers — Marcia Wellstone Markuson, Mary McEvoy, Thomas Lapic and William McLaughlin — died in the crash near Eveleth.
Because Markuson and McEvoy each had younger children, their spouses and other dependents are receiving weekly benefits from the Special Compensation Fund, which is overseen by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Markuson's and McEvoy's children could be eligible for workers' compensation benefits until they reach age 25. McLaughlin was not married and had no children, so his heirs were eligible only for a lump sum up to $60,000. Lapic's widow could receive payments for up to 10 years.
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Wellstone and his wife, Sheila, were not employees of the campaign committee, meaning their heirs are not among those receiving money from the fund. Nor are benefits for survivors of the plane's pilots part of the collection attempt, because they were covered through their employer, Aviation Charter of Eden Prairie.
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http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/7407656.htm
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