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These reports/graphics by other U.S. media will help them investigate your local mortuaries.
REFUNDS:
LAWSUITS:
Morticians fear that families who learn of the harm to their relatives' bodies may file lawsuits against them for offering, promoting, selling and sealing the caskets, and for not warning families of the harm -- and that pre-pay plan buyers may demand refunds, interest and penalties. (See Document 2 -- Planning, or Document 7B -- Ripoff Categories, regarding "protective" sealer caskets.)
There are lawsuits in courts now by families who paid high prices for "protective sealer" caskets -- which are now LEAKING BODY FLUIDS AND BODY ORGANS of their loved ones which have LIQUEFIED in these caskets because of the seals.
A woman recently received a $40,000 settlement from a major casket manufacturer for a high-priced sealer casket that leaked her mother's liquefied body organs, which flowed out the front of the mausoleum crypt. She will shortly go to court with a suit against a mortuary, cemetery and mausoleum for selling her the casket and trying to hide the damage.
A family recently received a $125,000 settlement from a major casket manufacturer for a costly, leaking sealer casket.
A family has instituted a $10 million suit against a casket manufacturer for a leaking sealer casket.
(There have been many suits in past years; these are just a few of the most recent.)
(When we receive permission from the above families and others, we will publish the names of the families and their lawyers -- in case any of you may wish to talk with them about their suits or your own situation. We invite you to let us know about any problem you think you may have; we may be able to obtain some advice for you. Let us know of any problems or suits you have heard about in your area in the past -- whether you heard about it personally or through newspapers or other media.)
A few years ago, thousands of California families sued for millions of dollars in suits against more than 100 mortuaries for allowing thousands of bodies to be cremated in piles of up to 30 bodies at a time, and other abuse. Such suits can partially repay families for worry about what happened to their relatives' bodies, and can cause mortuaries and others to stop their abuse.
A member of the California Cemetery Board said in 1992: "There are so many horrible things happening in the industry here that I can't honestly tell consumers where they can go to get a funeral in California done properly."
Families who are concerned that they may have been misled by morticians regarding sealer caskets should write down what they remember being told and talk to a lawyer. Families with mausoleum crypts should check to see if the crypts have leaked or appear to have been opened.