LAFAYETTE – An insurer is seeking the court's help with a dispute among several individuals in relation to the beneficiaries of an insurance policy.
Minnesota Life Insurance Co. filed a complaint for interpleader on June 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division against Reva Lightfoot, Anastasia Boyd, Deidra Darby, Samantha Booker, Jones Funeral Home Inc. et al.
According to the complaint, Henry L. Darby Jr. was insured under a group policy issued by the plaintiff and died in 2015. The suit states that Darby had listed his mother as the beneficiary, but she has also passed away and Darby had not named a secondary or contingent beneficiary. The plaintiff alleges that Lightfoot, Boyd, Deidra Darby and Booker were all listed as children in his obituary, but Deidra Darby alleges that Dahlia Ann Darby is Henry Darby's only surviving child.
The plaintiff claims it is uncertain which defendants are the proper beneficiaries of Henry Darby's benefits.
The plaintiff seeks an order requiring defendants to interplead and assert their respective claims and that the policy benefits plus interest which will be deposited with the Clerk of the Court, award for attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses and any further relief as the court deems equitable. It is represented by Kelly D. Simpkins and Richard T. Conrad III of Wells Marble & Hurst PLLC in Jackson, Mississippi.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division case number 6:17-cv-00823