Former Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard
CHICAGO — An insurance company is asking a judge to rule Thornton Township's scandal-plagued former supervisor Tiffany Henyard, or her boyfriend and another former township employee, are on their own in defending against a lawsuit brought by two men demanding Henyard and her associates pay for their roles in an all-out brawl with critics during a regular township board meeting.
On Sept. 3, RSUI Indemnity Company filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, seeking an order declaring the insurer has no obligation to defend or cover neither of Henyard; her boyfriend and former Thornton Township employee, Kamal Woods; nor former township employee William Moore.
The insurer's lawsuit comes about five months after a federal judge refused to dismiss most of the allegations against Henyard, Woods and Moore in the legal action lodged against them by plaintiffs Jedidiah Brown and Lavell Redmond.
Brown and Redmond had filed their lawsuit in Chicago federal court against Henyard and the two men for injuries the men suffered when they were allegedly attacked by Woods and Henyard after Brown publicly criticized Henyard at a public meeting in January 2025.
According to court documents and published reports, Brown and Redmond attended a tense meeting of the Thornton Township board. According to court documents, the two men believed the meeting could result in physical threats, at least. Brown reportedly contacted the South Holland Police Department to request a police presence at the meeting.
South Holland officers, however, reportedly declined to formally secure the meeting, allegedly saying they believed private security hired by Henyard for the meeting was sufficient. Those security services were provided by Allpoints Security and Detective Inc.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Brown took to the podium, where he delivered a speech criticizing Henyard and her administration over Thornton Township government.
He ended his speech by reportedly pointing at Henyard, and shouting, "You gone, bitch!"
At that point, published reports and videos posted online and aired on local television news broadcasts showed he was threatened by Henyard's boyfriend, Woods, who then reportedly quickly shoved and swung at Redmond.
The room then devolved into what court documents describe as a "melee" with security struggling to restore order.
Henyard also was recorded diving into the fight, reportedly attacking both Brown and Redmond, and allegedly striking Redmond with a microphone.
Security officers allegedly further restrained Brown, carrying him into another room against his will, hitting him several times and wrestling him to the ground.
During the struggle, Redmond reportedly lost his cell phone, which was eventually taken by Moore.
The incident generated headlines locally and elsewhere, and served as an exclamation point on Henyard's scandal-plagued political career in Chicago's Cook County suburbs.
Henyard stood for years at the center of controversy in both the south suburban village of Dolton and Thornton Township, where she simultaneously held the top executive positions.
After she was elected as mayor of Dolton in 2021, Henyard then went on to also claim the office of Thornton Township supervisor through a questionable process that The Lansing Journal described as “an unprecedented series of nominations and votes,” that resulted in Henyard’s selection with just 10 minutes remaining before a legal deadline.
Throughout her tenure in office, Henyard was accused of corruption and mismanagement, drawing the attention of both the FBI and the Illinois Attorney General's office.
And her clashes with other government officials and government employees in Dolton and Thornton Township have resulted in a blizzard of lawsuits, accusing her of misconduct, illegal retaliation and more.
Village officials in Dolton accused Henyard, for instance, of misusing village police for her own personal security, and of violating state law for refusing to fulfill lawful public information requests allegedly to hide alleged misdeeds and corruption.
Members of the Dolton village board of trustees accused Henyard of financial mismanagement, asserting she regularly racked up charges of tens of thousands of dollars per month on a village credit card, with little explanation for the charges.
Former and current village employees accused Henyard of punishing and even firing them for refusing to go along with allegedly illegal schemes.
The former Dolton police chief claimed in court that Henyard fired him because his wife was friendly with Henyard's political opponents.
After years of political and personal clashes amid the accusations of corruption and mismanagement, Henyard was removed from office by voters in the spring of 2025 in a landslide vote in favor of her chief opponent, then-village trustee Jason House.
After losing, Henyard resurfaced in Atlanta, Georgia, where she won the Republican primary in the race of Fulton County Commission.
However, in the meantime, Henyard is among those continuing to defend against the lawsuit lodged by Redmond and Brown stemming from the January 2025 brawl.
According to court documents, Redmond is one of the former Dolton village employees who has accused Henyard of improperly firing him.
In March 2026, a Chicago federal judge particularly knocked down Henyard's attempts to argue Brown's political speech at the public meeting amounted to "fighting words" that should allow the court to toss Brown's and Redmond's claims that the ensuing fight amounted to unconstitutional attempts to violate their First Amendment rights.
The judge allowed most of the lawsuit to continue against Henyard, Woods and Moore, as well as against Thornton Township and Allpoints Security.
After the lawsuit was filed, the lawsuit was tendered to RSUI for insurance coverage.
In the new lawsuit, RSUI said Thornton Township agreed that their policy doesn't provide any coverage for injuries suffered by people who are physically accosted by the township supervisor, her boyfriend and other township employees after criticizing the township supervisor during a public meeting.
However, RSUI said Henyard, Woods and Moore have refused to agree to the same related to the claims against them.
So, RSUI said it is seeking a court order declaring the three individual defendants are not entitled to any coverage under the township's policy through RSUI.
Brown and Redmond are represented in their legal action by attorney Matthew R. Custardo, of Lisle.
RSUI is represented by attorneys Walker Wilcox Matousek, of Chicago.
According to court records, Henyard, Woods and Moore are now proceeding pro se, after their attorney Manotti L. Jenkins withdrew from the case. He cited "irreconcilable circumstances" involving each of the three individuals that he "has not been successful in resolving."
