This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Susan Hunt, mother of Darrien Hunt, wants to make it clear to Saratoga Springs that she never agreed to settle her civil rights lawsuit concerning her son's death.
Hunt sued the city in federal court after officers shot her son on Sept. 10, 2014. The city's attorney claimed the parties had agreed on a settlement amount in early August and a $900,000 check was sent to Hunt's lawyer, Robert Sykes, on Aug. 21.
At a rally last month, Hunt announced that she turned down the offer — and the city, in response, demanded that she abide by the settlement agreement.
But in a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Utah, Hunt rebuffed the city's demand, claimed that she never signed off on the settlement terms, and argued that she shouldn't have to pay attorneys' fees. "As soon as Susan Hunt learned from Sykes about the $900,000 settlement offer, she rejected it to her counsel and informed all Plaintiffs about her rejection," the motion reads. It adds that the decision to settle belongs to the client, not the lawyer, and that "contrary to Susan Hunt's directions and lacking any authority, Sykes continued settlement discussions as if they were dressed with such authority."
Hunt fired Sykes, and is now represented by Paul Lydolph.
Hunt said that the settlement would have barred her from commenting about the case, which she felt was unacceptable.
Lydolph's motion also claims that $900,000 is not enough and that the settlements in high-profile cases involving police use of force — including the deaths of Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray — indicates that "the value in this case is no less than $5.9 million and could be $6.5 million or higher."
"The reality is that the value of a life in Utah is the same as a life in New York City. Or Baltimore. Or South Carolina," the motion reads. "In front of a jury, even opposing counsel would eventually concede that a life in Utah is no less valuable than anywhere else."
Darrien Hunt, 22, was fatally shot about 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 10, 2014, after Saratoga Springs Cpl. Matthew Schauerhamer and Officer Nicholas Judson confronted him in response to a passerby's 911 call to report a man with a "samurai" sword who was walking at Redwood Road and State Road 73.
Hunt's relatives say Hunt was cosplaying — or costumed role playing — as a cartoon character and carrying a sword that was not a weapon, but a costume accessory with a rounded blade.
The officers say they fired several shots after Hunt swung the sword at them, and they gave chase when he ran away from them. Schauerhamer fired several more rounds during the chase before Hunt — who was shot six times — collapsed near a restaurant at 1413 N. Redwood Road.
The Utah County Attorney's Office ruled the shooting justified.
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