258
Opinion of the Court
eficiaries are identified"); 51 Fed. Reg. 4270, 4276 (1986) ("Since a claim for survivor benefits does not arise until the employee's death, there is no claim [against the employer] that can be settled [before then]"). We therefore reject the argument that a person seeking death benefits under the Act can satisfy the prerequisites for those benefits at any earlier time—e. g., when the worker is initially injured or when the worker enters into a predeath settlement. See also 20 CFR § 702.241(g) (1996) (no one can enter a settlement agreement with the employer regarding death benefits before the worker dies). Because Mrs. Yates' husband was alive at the time she released her potential wrongful death actions, she was not a "person entitled to compensation" at that time and was therefore not obligated to seek Ingalls' approval to preserve her entitlement to statutory death benefits.
Ingalls contends that the plain language of § 33(g)(1) mandates a contrary conclusion. Ingalls' analysis focuses on the presence of the phrase "would be entitled":
"If the person entitled to compensation . . . enters into a settlement with a third person . . . for an amount less than the compensation to which the person . . . would be entitled under this [Act], the employer shall be liable [only if approval is obtained]." 33 U. S. C. § 933(g)(1) (emphasis added).
Because this subsection examines the compensation to which the person "would be entitled" under the Act, argues Ingalls, it "encompasses a broad forward looking concept" that effectively brings any "person who would be entitled to compensation" within its purview. Brief for Petitioners 15. As support, Ingalls draws upon the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cretan v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 1 F. 3d 843 (1993). On facts almost identical to those presented here, the Court of Appeals held that the injured worker's spouse was a "person entitled to compensation" for death benefits prior to her husband's death. The court found "lit-
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