Are Benefits to Be Paid from the Date of Death According to the Pension Code ?

Section 6-140 of the Pension Code: In Hooker v. Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund, 391 Ill. App. 3d 129, 139, 907 N.E.2d 447, 457, 329 Ill. Dec. 856 (2009), the Court summarized how section 6-140 clearly provides that a widow's duty death annuity is computed from the "date of the event," which is the date of the fireman's death, and that this language had been codified in the Pension Code since as early as 1959. Hooker, 391 Ill. App. 3d at 139-40, 907 N.E.2d at 457. In Cunningham v. Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund, 389 Ill. App. 3d 1065, 1076, 907 N.E.2d 463, 474, 329 Ill. Dec. 872 (2009), decided the same day as Hooker, we again held that Bertucci v. Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity Fund, 351 Ill. App. 3d 368, 813 N.E.2d 1021, 286 Ill. Dec. 328 (2004) did not announce a new rule of law and that the statute was clear that benefits were to be paid from the date of death. Cunningham, 389 Ill. App. 3d at 1074-76, 907 N.E.2d at 473-74. In so holding, we reviewed the clarity of this legislative enactment: "Section 6-116 of the Pension Code also provides that the annuity begins on 'the date of the event upon which payment of annuity shall depend' which, in the context of a widow's annuity, is the date of the fireman's death. 40 ILCS 5/6-116 (West 2000). Section 6-140 of the Pension Code provides that a widow's duty death annuity is computed at the time of the fireman's death. 40 ILCS 5/6-140 (West 2000). We note that the 'date of the event' language, which triggers the payment of an annuity, ties the date of the event to the date of the fireman's death. The aforementioned language has been codified in the Pension Code since as early as 1959, and the statute was renumbered as section 6-116 of the Pension Code in 1963. Currently, the 'date of the event' language is codified in the Pension Code as section 6-116. Therefore, the Pension Code directs the Retirement Board to compute the widows' duty death annuity from date of the fireman's death. 40 ILCS 5/6-116, 6-140 (West 2000)." Cunningham, 389 Ill. App. 3d at 1073-74, 907 N.E.2d at 472.