The Georgia Court of Appeals says the widow of a Lavonia pastor, killed in 2009 by a member of a drug task force, can collect against insurance policies covering Habersham and Rabun counties.
A lower court ruled that, while the task force was made up of officers from Habersham, Rabun and Stephens counties, the liability rested on Stephens County’s policy alone because Billy Shane Harrison, the officer who shot Jonathan Ayers, was a Stephens County Deputy assigned to the Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression Team (NCIS) and the shooting took place in Toccoa.
A wrongful death lawsuit in 2014 resulted in an award to Ayers’ widow, Abigail Ayers, of about $2.4 million.
The limit of Stephens County’s policy from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency (IRMA) was capped at $1 million.
IRMA had a $2 million policy covering Rabun County officers and $1 million covering Habersham but the insurer argued that those policies didn’t apply and could not be combined or “stacked” to make for a larger payout.
A court in Banks County agreed last year and ruled that only the Stephens County policy covered Harrison’s liability in Ayers’ death.
The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed that decision this spring saying that officers on the NCIS worked jointly in all three counties.
“Because the insurance policies issued to Rabun and Habersham Counties do not explicitly limit their coverage to prohibit stacking, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to IRMA,” Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes wrote in her decision. “Harrison is an ‘officer’ of Rabun and Habersham Counties and therefore a “Member” under those counties’ policies.”
VIDEO: Surveillance cameras captured the shooting at a Toccoa convenience store on Sept. 1, 2009
