
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993                   TAG: 9303280113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

JUDGE REJECTS LESBIAN'S CLAIM FOR DEATH BENEFIT

The surviving partner in a lesbian relationship is not entitled to her lover's company death benefits because their "marriage" is not legally recognized, a Manhattan judge ruled Saturday.

The case is believed to be the first of its kind in the country.

Federal Judge Robert Patterson rejected the request of Sandra Rovira, of New Rochelle, N.Y., to force American Telegraph & Telephone Co. to pay the $53,000 sickness death benefit of Marjorie Forlini, who died of cancer in 1988 after the couple had lived together for 12 years.

Forlini, an AT&T sales manager, had exchanged rings and vows with Rovira, a Legal Aid lawyer in Queens, in a ceremony formalizing their relationship.

But Patterson said the AT&T benefits plan specifically restricted payments to an employe's legal spouse, dependent children and other dependent relatives.

- Knight-Ridder/Tribune

by CNB