Calif. Court Declines to Increase Widow Benefits in Burkitt's Lymphoma Case

LOS ANGELES - A California appellate court affirmed a lower court's decision to deny enhanced death benefits to a widow who contended that her later husband's lymphoma was linked to his duties as a deputy sheriff. Sameyah v. Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, No. B222290 (Calif. Ct. App., 2nd Dist.).

The Second District Court of Appeal said in its Nov. 19 opinion that it agreed with the Los Angeles County Suprerior Court that a Retirement Board had rebutted a cancer presumption by establishing that job-related carcinogens were not reasonably linked to the deputy's Burkitt's lymphoma.

Karen Sameyah applied to …