Concubine or Dependent : Perez v. Irby Construction Co. and the Antiquated Workers' Compensation Statutes Barring Dependents

On November 7, 2017, Travis Chiokai, a lineman for Irby Construction, plummeted 100 feet to the ground after the line suspending him from a helicopter was severed. Travis died at the scene. At the time of his accident, Chiokai was living with and engaged to Latashia Perez, who was pregnant with their first child. Perez would soon discover her newfound label of “concubine,” a civil law term describing a woman living with a man without the benefit of matrimony, and the hindrance to her recovery created by the 2012 amendment to Louisiana Revised Statutes section 23:1253; otherwise known as the family- member doctrine of the Workers’ Compensation Act. Despite numerous precedents favoring payments toward other dependents of the deceased, including the monumental Henderson decision that held concubines did have a right to recover, this amendment prohibits the deceased employee’s concubine and her children from payments. Regardless of dependency, recovery is deemed impossible unless the children were related to the deceased by blood or adoption. This blanket proclamation neglects the factors of permanency and dependency that delve into individual circumstances and serve to combat the main concern voiced against illegitimate families—the transient, temporary nature of unmarried spouses. In this Casenote, the author examines Louisiana jurisprudence from early decisions holding illegitimate children and unmarried mothers as a meretricious consequence of moral turpitude, owed no right to recovery, to their gradual acceptance and the precedent-changing Henderson case. This examination leads to the first ever interpretation of the amendment by the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Perez v Irby Construction Company. Perez was found to be entitled to payments, but even a reading favorable to her is detrimental to other “concubines” and leaves many unanswered questions. The author concludes that the tried-and-true factors of permanency and dependency are necessary and unavoidable and should continue if further clarification to Louisiana workers’ compensation law is not made