Lawsuit: Cemetery Lost Skulls, Other Remains
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2009 | Updated 10:31 AM PDT
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Family members are accusing a Jewish cemetery in Mission Hills of disturbing vaults and throwing out human skulls and other remains to make room for new burials.
The class action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week claims Eden Memorial Park and its parent company, Service Corporation International, tried to squeeze plots together, break into vaults and move remains to make more money.
Michael Avenatti, the lead plaintiff's attorney, said some bodies were lost.
"We're aware of instances where they literally lost bodies," Avenatti told the LA Times. "In other words, loved ones have been going to graves that have been empty."
A cemetery manager referred questions to corporate headquarters in Houston, where a spokeswoman for SCI denied the charges.
"While very salacious, these allegations are just that -- allegations," company spokeswoman Lisa Marshall said in a statement, the Times reported. "Eden Memorial conducts extensive training with its employees and we support that with strict policies and procedures."
A spokesman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs' Cemetery and Funeral Bureau says the bureau has taken no action
against the cemetery's license but would investigate the lawsuit's allegations.
