Kuntz

Plaintiff is the widow of Perry M. Kuntz, who died as the result of a pulmonary embolus (a blood clot in the lung) he sustained as a consequence of heart surgery. At the time of his death, Mr. Kuntz had been a member of defendant Kern County Employees’ Retirement Association for many years, and the sole issue is whether there was substantial evidence to sustain the trial court’s finding that the cause of death was not service-connected within the ambit of section 31787 of the Government Code. Stated in another manner, the only question presented in this appeal is whether plaintiff’s evidence established, as a matter of law, that her deceased husband died as the result of an injury or a disease arising out of and in the course of his employment so as to entitle plaintiff to the service-connected death allowance established by section 31787. This section is found in the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (Gov. Code, tit. 3, div. 4, pt. 3, ch. 3) and reads in pertinent part as follows: “If any member dies as the result of injury or disease arising out of and in the course of his employment, and he is survived by a spouse to whom the member was married prior to…