Nurse who found bodies of businessman, wife sues for damages

This June 16, 2009, file photo, shows Irwin L. Jacobs. Lisa Ann Hayes, a home health nurse who discovered the bodies of the prominent Minnesota businessman and his wife in a murder-suicide case is suing their estate and seeking damages for emotional trauma. Hayes walked in on a grisly scene in April 2019 at the Lake Minnetonka mansion of Irwin and Alexandra Jacobs. She is seeking unspecified damages in her lawsuit, claiming Irwin Jacobs' actions were injurious to her health and “constituted willful, wanton and malicious conduct.” (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A home health nurse who discovered the bodies of a prominent Minnesota businessman and his wife in a murder-suicide case is suing their estate and seeking damages for emotional trauma.

Lisa Ann Hayes walked in on a grisly scene in April 2019 at the Lake Minnetonka mansion of Irwin and Alexandra Jacobs. Irwin Jacobs had fatally shot his wife and then himself amid health and financial troubles, according to investigators.

Irwin once held a stake in the Minnesota Vikings and was a nationally known investor who made a fortune as a corporate raider in the 1980s and 1990s.

Hayes is seeking unspecified damages in her lawsuit, claiming Irwin Jacobs' actions were injurious to her health and “constituted willful, wanton and malicious conduct.”

Jacobs family lawyer Steven Sitek called the lawsuit “a grotesque betrayal” by a once trusted caregiver who was treated like family. Sitek plans to seek dismissal of the lawsuit, the Star Tribune reported.

“This is simply the latest baseless effort to extort the Jacobs family and Irwin’s estate,” Sitek said in a statement. “Ms. Hayes threatened to publicly file her lawsuit filled with unnecessarily lurid and sensationalized details unless the estate paid her $12.5 million."

Hayes' attorney, Brian Stofferahn said Hayes has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by two doctors and has been unable to work since the incident.

Stofferahn declined to comment on whether Hayes had asked for $12.5 million, but said there has been a demand against the insurance company.

"And hopefully at some point (the company) will make a good-faith offer. And they have not to date,” he said.