Heath ex-lawyer sues insurance firm

6:01pm Tuesday 30th September 2008

A former lawyer for actor Heath Ledger is suing over a 10 million dollar (£5.5 million) life insurance policy he claims has gone unpaid since the actor's death earlier this year.

John LaViolette sued Minnesota-based ReliaStar Life Insurance Co in July, claiming the company was trying to avoid paying the claim to Ledger's two-year-old daughter Matilda Rose.

The lawsuit does not mention Ledger or his daughter's name, but states that it is on behalf of a man who died of "accidental causes on January 22 2008". That is the date the 28-year-old actor was found dead of an apparent accidental prescription drug overdose in New York City.

ReliaStar states in its legal response that it is seeking more information about whether Ledger may have lied on paperwork and about whether his death may have been a suicide.

LaViolette's lawsuit claims ReliaStar had to investigate any statements Ledger made in paperwork while the actor was still alive.

The lawsuit was removed from Los Angeles Superior Court to federal court in August. Its existence was first reported by celebrity gossip website TMZ.

"We have not rendered a decision on this claim," said Dana Ripley, a spokesman for ING Americas, which owns ReliaStar.

He said he could not comment on specifics about the lawsuit or Ledger's policy. "This is a very private and confidential matter," he said.

William Shernoff, the lawyer representing LaViolette and Matilda Rose, said in a statement that ReliaStar had told him it would seek the depositions of a masseuse who found Ledger's body and of actress Mary-Kate Olsen, who received a flurry of phone calls after the body was found. The insurance company's lawyers also want to question Ledger's co-stars, agents and doctors, Shernoff said.

"There's a young girl whose father died who is entitled to this money, and ReliaStar is doing everything it can to avoid paying," Shernoff said in a press release.

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