Son of late Flint Councilman Eric Mays sues city over father’s life insurance policy

Son of late Flint Councilman Eric Mays sues city over father’s life insurance policy Updated: Mar. 09, 2024, 4:07 a.m.|Published: Mar. 08, 2024, 6:29 p.m. Eric Mays candelight vigil Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays speaks during his father’s candlelight vigil honoring former councilman Eric Mays at the city hall in Flint on Saturday, March 2, 2024. Rebecca Villagracia | MLive.com Subscribers can gift articles to anyone By Ron Fonger | rfonger1@mlive.com FLINT, MI -- Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays, identified in court filings as the only child of the late Flint Councilman Eric Mays, has sued the city, alleging Flint officials are refusing to provide him with a copy of a $75,000 life insurance policy that names him as the beneficiary. The younger Mays filed the lawsuit on Friday, March 8, in Genesee Circuit Court, asking Judge Chris Christenson for an affirmative injunction, requiring the city to produce a copy of the policy within 48 hours. The lawsuit claims the life insurance policy was active and in force when the late councilman died intestate on Feb. 24. An attorney representing Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays said in a news release Friday that his client is “the named beneficiary on the policy.” In addition to the city, the lawsuit filed by the Lento Law Group names Flint Human Resources Director Eddie Smith, City Attorney William Kim and Mayor Sheldon Neeley as defendants. In a statement released by the city, Smith said the city provides a life insurance policy for its officials and employees as part of their benefit packages and that Mays never designated a beneficiary. Flint’s benefit policies say when no beneficiary is designated, the policy is payable to the employee’s estate, Smith’s statement says. “A personal representative of the late councilman’s estate must be designated by the probate court in order for the city to effectuate payment, and to date, the city has not received any documentation showing that this has occurred,” the statement says. The lawsuit says life insurance benefits do not pass through an estate, are not subject to probate, and therefore the requirement of the appointment of an administrator is “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.” Friday’s lawsuit marks the second time this week Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays has filed a lawsuit related to his father’s death. On Monday, March 4, he sued an aunt and three uncles as well as Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home, seeking the release of his father’s body to the funeral home of his choice and to cancel pending funeral arrangements being handled by Moon. A funeral service planned for Saturday, March 9, was put on hold by Circuit Judge Brian Pickell, who recessed a hearing on the lawsuit until Monday, March 11. Neeley said in a statement Friday that he was “disappointed that misleading allegations are creating undue strife in our community.” “We continue to lift the entire family of Eric Mays in prayer as mourners wait to pay their final respects to the 1st Ward councilman, and we pray for comfort and peace for our community in this time of sorrow,” Neeley said. Lento Law represented the late Eric Mays in several lawsuits against the city and Neeley, and the filing by his son Friday says the mayor and his political allies attempted to silence his father and to remove him from his elected seat. Lento Law attorney John A. Fernandez said in a news release Friday that the lawsuit against the city is needed to remedy a “terrible injustice” that city officials are inflicting on his client. The city’s actions appear “to be nothing more than a cruel act of retaliation against a grieving son as a result of animus the defendants in this action felt for his father,” Fernandez’s statement says. “We hope to right this wrong swiftly so that both the late councilman and his son may have peace.” Kim said in a statement that the city has not been served with the life insurance lawsuit. “Based on the prior lawsuits that have been filed by the Lento Law Group against the city of Flint and its officials, we expect to seek, at minimum, dismissal of this action as frivolous at the earliest possible opportunity,” Kim said.