This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A famous attorney known for his defense of celebrities like pop star Michael Jackson has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Utah woman who says her husband's life insurance company refused her claim.
The Standard-Examiner reports that Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Salt Lake City. The suit says Texas-based American General Life Insurance Co. refused to pay a $500,000 claim to Molly Farrand of Centerville.
Farrand's husband, 38-year-old Vincent John Farrand, took out the policy in 2011, three years before he was fatally shot in a confrontation with police. American General says her husband was drunk and attempting "suicide by cop."
Farrand's attorneys criticize that rationale for denying coverage.
Efforts to contact American General were not immediately successful.
Earlier this year, Centerville settled a lawsuit that stemmed from the April 13, 2014 shooting.
Molly Farrand sought $2 million in a lawsuit against the city and the officer who fired the shot that killed her husband.
On July 1, she agreed to a settlement of $127,000 — $126,000 supplied by Centerville and $1,000 by the Utah Risk Management Mutual Association.
The city has said the settlement was in the best interests of the city's taxpayers and "in no way should be construed that the officer involved was at fault. If Mr. Farrand had dropped his gun as the officer directed, the outcome would have been very different."
The Davis County Attorney's Office investigated the shooting and concluded that the officer was justified in using deadly force.