The only son of late Flint City Councilman Eric Mays is suing city officials, claiming they engaged in “a cruel act of retaliation” by withholding information about his father’s insurance benefits.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Michigan’s 7th Circuit Court, alleges city officials refused to disclose the information to Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays.
Calling the action “a terrible injustice” and an “emotional assault,” attorneys for Mays’s son claim Mayor Sheldon Neeley ordered city attorney William Kim to withhold a copy of Mays’s life insurance policy to his son.
“The City is wrongfully denying Mr. Mays access to the City’s life insurance policy that was in place on his late father, preventing him from applying for the insurance proceeds to which he is entitled as the named beneficiary on the policy,” Mays’s attorney John A. Fernandez of the Lento Law Group said in a statement.
Mays, a passionate and combative councilman and TikTok sensation, died at his home on Feb. 24.
In a statement, Flint Human Resources Director Eddie Smith said Mays did not list a beneficiary with the city’s insurance companies. When no beneficiary is designated, “the policy is payable to the Employee’s estate,” Smith said, citing the city’s benefit policies.
“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,” Smith said.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said the lawsuit is causing unnecessary divisions in the community.
“We are disappointed that misleading allegations are creating undue strife in our community,” Neeley said in a statement. “We continue to lift the entire family of Eric Mays in prayer as mourners wait to pay their final respects to the First Ward Councilman, and we pray for comfort and peace for our community in this time of sorrow.”
The legal action came five days after Mays’s son filed a lawsuit against the Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home in Flint and the late councilman’s four siblings. The lawsuit accuses the funeral home of holding Mays’s body “hostage” by refusing to turn it over to his son. The lawsuit also alleges Mays’s four siblings conspired to seize control of Mays’s body and profit from “their fraudulent scheme” by soliciting donations from the community for funeral services.
As a result of the suit, Judge Brian S. Pickell of Michigan’s 7th Circuit Court ruled that the siblings cannot hold a funeral that was planned this weekend until a final decision is made on the lawsuit.
Another hearing is scheduled for Monday in that case.
“This latest emotional assault from the City comes at a time when Mr. Mays is already embroiled in a contentious and emotionally charged legal battle with his uncles and aunt over the right to control the disposition and funeral arrangements for his late father’s remains,” Fernandez said. “This appears 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. We hope to right this wrong swiftly so that both the late Councilman and his son may have peace.”
