Suicide & Life Insurance

Salt Lake City - An insurance company has asked a judge to throw out a Centerville woman’s lawsuit that seeks payment of a $500,000 policy claim on the life of her husband, who was shot to death by police.

American General Life Insurance Co. was sued in U.S. District Court in 2016 by Molly Farrand, whose husband, Vincent, took the policy in 2011, three years before he was killed in a confrontation with Centerville officers on April 13, 2014.

“... The undisputed facts show that Mr. Farrand’s death was the result of his own criminal and intentional conduct when he exited his home, gun in hand, intoxicated, and confronted police officers,” attorneys for the insurer said in court documents filed Friday, June 22.

The man defied repeated police commands to drop the gun and instead tapped the trigger and told the officer to just “do it,” the company said in its motion for summary judgment.

“Finally, he raised his gun towards the officer, who then shot him. Mr. Farrand’s death is certainly a tragedy, but it is not a covered ‘accident,’” the company said.

Molly Farrand first filed a civil rights suit against Centerville City and the officer who fired the fatal shots, Jason Read. The $2 million suit filed on March 24, 2016, alleged Read “executed” her husband by shooting him twice in the back outside the couple’s home.

In a settlement of that suit, the city paid Farrand $127,000 in damages. Although it settled, the city did not admit fault.

American General’s Aug. 18, 2014, letter to Molly Farrand said it was denying the life insurance claim because Vincent Farrand “was suicidal and wanted ‘suicide by cop.’” The letter also quoted the police investigation report that said an autopsy found the man had a 0.22 blood alcohol content.

Farrand’s attorneys criticized the suicide-by-cop rationale. For it to justify denying the claim, “they would have to make the untenable argument that when interacting with law enforcement — even with a gun, considering that Utah is an ‘open carry’ state — the expected and anticipated result is the police officer shooting the suspect,” the suit said. “Utah law is clear that Utahans have a lawful right to ‘open carry’ weapons, especially on one’s own property.”

Further, it is “irrational and unreasonable” that the claim should be denied because Vincent Farrand was intoxicated, the suit said. Utah law is clear that provisions that limit or exclude coverage should be strictly construed in favor of the insured, the suit said.

The suit accused American General of failing to adequately investigate the insurance claim, relying solely on the police investigation report and ignoring subsequent developments, such as the city paying a settlement to Molly Farrand, the suit said.

The suit demands at least $500,000 in damages from American General.

In its request for dismissal of the case, American General said the policy defines “accidental injury” as an “accidental bodily injury, which is unforeseen and suddenly sustained without the design or intent of [the] Insured Person.”

A reasonable person would anticipate that conduct such as Vincent Farrand’s “would result in the use of deadly force against him,” American General said. “Under the objective standard, this was no ‘accidental’ injury.”

Read reasonably feared for his life, the company said, and Vincent Farrand’s “clear intention, based on the evidentiary record, was to put police officers in the position where they would have to end his life.”