Hi this is Brian Wiklendt I’m lead counsel at Garfinkel Schwartz. I’m coming to you
today from our Maitland Florida office which is a suburb of Orlando Florida and we also
have a satellite office in Cocoa Beach on the Space Coast near Port Canaveral.
But I travel all across the country and to other countries to represent people under
the Defense Base Act. The Defense Base Act is a federal law that covers overseas contractors
and sub-contractors including Third Country Nationals that get injured or killed while
working on a contract from the government, the U.S. Government.
DBA Death BenefitsToday I’m coming to you to discuss death benefits under the Defense
Base Act. A lot of people don’t know that these benefits are out there and the benefits
are very significant for the families who lose a loved one as a result of an overseas
contract.
Basically what happens is when a person dies, one of your loved ones dies, the spouse of
that person receives fifty percent of the employees’ average weekly wage for the rest
of her life. That’s very significant meaning that we’re talking about hundreds of thousands
of dollars here that a lot of people have no idea that they’re entitled to.
If the wife remarries, she gets fifty percent of two years of his average weekly wage in
a lump sum.
Also any surviving children get a certain percentage that they share equally until they’re
18 years old which is normally sixteen and a half percent of the dead person’s average
weekly wage. That also can become significant.
That happens until they’re 18 however if they go to college it can be extended until
they’re 23.
Most people don’t know that these exist especially Third Country Nationals.
Now Third Country Nationals are people under a sub-contract that probably never have met
or know the person who has the direct contract with the government. These people have no
clue and no idea that if they get injured or they get killed that they have benefits
under the United States government.
My job is to try to hit those people and to find them and explain to them what their rights
are.
Now you may think that there’s a one year statute of limitations normally on Defense
Base Act claims including on death claims however there is a presumption in the law
that states that if when you know or should have known that your entitled to these benefits
that’s when the statute starts running. Not when the person dies. In a lot of cases
the employer or the sub-contractor never notifies the Department of Labor of the death.
If that occurs and they don’t notify the Department of Labor within one year, the statute
of limitations is no longer valid.
Also if the employer doesn’t help assist you and explain to you what your benefits
might be, a judge may rule that that was improper by the employer to not tell you what your
rights are and then that presumption that they filed your claim timely applies.
I’ve seen people who’ve had loved ones killed in the line of duty back as far as
2004 and 2005 who may possibly be successfully able to continue a claim and go forward with
a judge on their death benefits based on the lack of an employer’s input and notice that
a death occurred while under a subcontract.
We come to you and help you where you liveSo I just wanted to let everyone know that we
handle these types of claims no matter where you live, or where the accident or injury.
Not many people know about these benefits. The benefits are significant for the family.
And I’d like to try to help every family out there that ever lost a loved one under
a civilian contract. Including civilian sub-contracts in Turkey, Indonesia, the Philippines, India,
a lot of these people have no idea that they were working under a U.S. government contract
because the sub-contractors don’t notify them and explain to them what the situation
is in terms of the hierarchy of the different contracts.
Sometimes they could be so co-mingled and mixed that a giant graph or flow-chart is
necessary just to figure out who is liable for what and whether you have benefits under
the Defense Base Act. And most likely you probably do
And again this is Brian Wiklendt lead counsel at Garfinkel Schwartz if you have any questions
about this or you know any family members or friends or anyone thats lives overseas
that suffered the death of a loved one who was working on behalf of the government. Even
if you don’t know whether they were actively working on behalf of the government or under
a government contract.
If they were working in some sort of a danger zone or driving a truck transporting goods,
there’s a good chance that they were doing that for someone that is connected with or
has a contract with United States government.
I hope this helps. I’m here to help. Our firm is here to help 24 hours a day. Please
take a look at our website at www.DefenseBaseActLaw.com where we will have a section under Death Benefits
for you to look at. Thank you very much for your time I do appreciate it. Take care.