A family legal dispute continues to delay the funeral for controversial Flint city councilman Eric Mays.
Mays spent a decade on the Flint city council. He was best known for his combative style and occasional arrests. Mays died nearly two weeks ago of natural causes.
But plans for a funeral this weekend were scuttled in a circuit court judge’s courtroom Thursday.
There’s a dispute between family members over who should be making the councilman’s funeral plans.
Attorneys for 38-year-old Eric Hakeem Mays, the councilman’s only child, contend he was excluded from making funeral plans by the elder Mays siblings.
Thursday’s court hearing didn’t even address the main issue.
Attorneys for Eric Hakeem Mays and an attorney representing the funeral home where the councilman’s body has been since last month and the older Mays’ siblings clashed over various motions and paperwork.
Attorney Loyst Fletcher, who represented the funeral home and one of Eric Mays’ siblings at the hearing, complained the other side failed to get its paperwork to him in time for the hearing.
“They had more time than I to prepare and get things in order. And they didn’t do it,” said Fletcher.
Circuit Court Judge Brian Pickell questioned the need for delaying the hearing, but eventually agreed. The family is headed back to court Monday.
Attorney Joe Cannizzo represents Eric Hakeem Mays. In a written statement released after the hearing, Cannizzo expressed hope that “we will be able to resolve this dispute in favor of our client and begin preparations to lay the late Councilman to rest.”
Meanwhile, the councilman’s body remains at a Flint funeral home, waiting for the court to decide what’s to be done.
