The widow of a former Rocky Flats worker who died years after his employment at the nuclear weapons plant during the Cold War is challenging the government’s denial of her survivor benefits in federal court, according to court records.
Julia Mae Halliburton of Aurora is suing the U.S. Department of Labor Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation and the agency’s director, Rachel Leiton, according to a lawsuit in Denver U.S. District Court filed on her behalf Thursday by Denver attorney Samantha Halliburton.
Julia Halliburton requests an “accurate copy” of the claims file of her deceased husband, Clarence Halliburton Sr. She is also seeking compensatory damages.
A message left for media representatives for the government was not immediately returned.
Clarence Halliburton was an employee of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats plant for more than a decade, the lawsuit says. Following his Sept. 23, 2012 death, his widow filed claims for survival benefits.
In the opinion of the department’s own contract medical consultant, Clarence Halliburton’s cause of death on Sept. 23, 2012 was possibly linked to his exposure to “harmful toxic substances,” the lawsuit says.
But following a contradictory analysis by a second medical consultant in 2014, the department recommended denial of her claims, the lawsuit says.
The department repeatedly refused to produce copies of reports from her claims file so Julia Halliburton has not been able to review evidence in the case, the lawsuit says.
