Ex-LA Co District Attorney Jackie Lacey Sues Insurer Over Legal Fees

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is suing State Farm, alleging in federal court the insurance company caused her to spend more than $2.1 million in legal fees when she and her late husband were sued because he brandished a gun against protesters at their home, according to court papers obtained Friday.

The complaint, originally filed in Superior Court but removed to L.A. federal court Thursday, claims breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing against State Farm.

Lacey alleges that she and her husband, David Lacey, who passed away in 2022, purchased a homeowners policy from the insurer with personal liability limits of $300,000 and an umbrella policy with “applicable limits” of $1 million.

In October 2020, Black Lives Matter organizers filed a civil lawsuit against the then-top county prosecutor and her husband in connection with the March 2020 incident in which David Lacey pointed a gun at several demonstrators outside the family home in Granada Hills.

The suit, filed by Black Lives Matter organizer Melina Abdullah and demonstrators Dahlia Ferlito and Justin Marks, accused the Laceys of assault, negligence and infliction of emotional distress in connection with the incident.

The demonstrators went to the Laceys’ home before dawn seeking to confront her for allegedly refusing to meet with them.

Lacey’s husband opened the door after the demonstrators rang the bell. Video images show him pointing a gun and saying he would shoot if the visitors did not get off his porch.

The encounter at the Lacey home occurred a day before Lacey — now 67 years old and the first woman and first Black prosecutor to hold the top post since the office was created in 1850 — was forced into a runoff with former San Francisco County District Attorney George Gascón, who ultimately was elected.

Lacey contends that State Farm breached her homeowners policy by “failing and refusing to timely and reasonably” provide for a legal defense of David Lacey, including payment of more than $2.1 million in attorneys’ fees related to the Abdullah lawsuit, according to court papers.

In March, the Black Lives Matter demonstrators settled the part of their lawsuit against the estate of Jackie Lacey’s late spouse.

Last July, all three settled the portion of the case against Jackie Lacey. No settlement terms were divulged.

David Lacey was charged by the California Attorney General’s Office with three misdemeanor counts of assault with a firearm, but in May 2021, a judge allowed him to enter a diversion program to resolve the case. He died in September 2022.

Abdullah is a professor and former chair of the Department of Pan- African Studies at Cal State Los Angeles and a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter. Lacey was criticized by Abdullah and other activists for declining to prosecute several law enforcement officers involved in fatal on-duty shootings during her two terms in office.