More than two weeks after his death, controversial former Flint City Councilman Eric Mays is a step closer to finally being laid to rest.
A bitter family legal fight over who should make Mays’ funeral decisions was at least partially decided Monday in a Genesee County courtroom.
Eric Mays died of natural causes last month. He was 65.
Mays himself was no stranger to the inside of a courtroom, either as a plaintiff or a defendant, during his decade on the Flint city council.
After his death, his siblings made his funeral plans. But his son, Eric Hakeem Mays, filed suit, claiming, as Mays' only child, he was legally entitled to make those decisions.
Initially, Circuit Court Judge Brian Pickell granted a temporary restraining order, citing the likelihood the younger Mays would prevail.
But Monday, Judge Pickell ruled in the family’s favor, finding the younger Mays did not file his claim within a 72-hour window following the elder Mays’ death.
“I hope that the court’s rulings today will at least help all members of Eric’s family and out community now move forward,” said Pickell.
However, at the beginning of the hearing, the attorney representing the elder Mays’ siblings and the funeral home told the judge the family was willing to allow the younger Mays take charge of the body and the funeral planning.
“It’s all irrelevant,” said attorney Loyst Fletcher, “At the end of the day, the body’s been released. They are not having the service.”
After the hearing, Eric Hakeem Mays’ attorneys moved to transfer the elder Mays' body to a Saginaw funeral home. But the transfer was delayed as they waited for the court to formally issue its order.
Plans for the funeral remain unclear.
In the meantime, the court battle is not over.
Despite winning Monday's outcome, attorneys for Eric Hakeem Mays plan to appeal the judge’s ruling against their lawsuit. There are allegations against Eric Mays’ siblings the attorneys still hope to pursue.
In the meantime, lawyers for the younger Mays have also filed suit against the city of Flint, focused on Eric Mays’ city-issued life insurance policy. The policy has a $75,000 pay out.
The elder Mays did not have a will and apparently did not designate a recipient of his life insurance policy.
