Ex-Olympian Sues Insurance Companies After Morris Co. Murder Acquittal

LONG VALLEY, NJ — An ex-Olympic equestrian who was recently found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of his trainee at a Long Valley farm, has sued his insurance companies, alleging that they broke their contracts by refusing to defend him.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, claims that they had a duty to defend him and/or his business because of the insurance policies he had purchased for his Long Valley horse farm, Sweetgrass Farm, and dressage business.

Michael Barisone shot student Lauren Kanarek and attempted to shoot her fiancée at his prestigious facility in Long Valley back in August 2019 after what he described as months of psychological torture by Kanarek.

According to the lawsuit, he received the gun from Ruth Cox, a client who legally owned it but brought it illegally to New Jersey.

The long-standing conflict between Barisone and Kanarak came to a head on Aug. 7, 2019, according to a probable cause affidavit, when Barisone went to the home Kanarak and her fiancée rented on Barisone's Hawthorne Farms property.

According to court documents, around 2:13 p.m., Barisone shot Kanarak twice in the chest at close range. He is also accused of attempting to shoot her fiancée but missing and instead hitting the house.

Following the attack on Kanarek, Barisone was charged with attempted murder and weapons possession. His lawyer claimed at trial that Kanarek's harassing attacks temporarily drove Barisone insane before he snapped.

In the end, a jury in Morris County Superior Court found Barisone not guilty by reason of insanity. He was also found not guilty of attempting to murder Karanek's fiancée, as well as the weapons and aggravated assault charges.

According to the suit, Barisone had policies with Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company, American National Insurance Company and Great American Insurance Company of New York.

Barisone claimed that those acts of material breach forced him to hire attorneys and fund his own defense with hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to his legal team, rather than having that expense borne by the insurance companies, who were obligated to defend him at their expense.

The former Olympian is requesting monetary damages for the money he spent on legal fees.

According to the lawsuit, Barisone had policies with millions of dollars in coverage from several insurance companies, including bodily injury, property damage and personal injury.

From Farm Family Casualty Insurance Company, Barisone claims he had a policy of insurance which the company characterized as a "Special Farm Package ‘10’ Policy" that provided a $2 million general aggregate limit that included $1 million per occurrence

From Great American, Barisone had an "ArgiPak Farm and Ranch Policy" that had a general aggregate limit of $2 million, including $1 million of personal injury coverage. He also had a separate policy called "AriGuard Farm Catastrophe Liability Policy" which provided an additional $1 million.

"The respective failures and refusals of the names insurance companies to provide Barisone with defense and indemnity were acts of bad faith and in material breached their respective duties and obligations under the identified insurance policies," the suit states.

Barisone is currently receiving treatment at Greystone Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County. On April 25, he will have a separate hearing to determine whether he needs to stay at Greystone.