Final approval has been given to pay out roughly one-third of the $39.5 million in settlements in a lawsuit over hundreds of corpses that were dumped at a northwest Georgia crematory, according to a lawyer involved in the case. The final approval came Friday on $13.5 million in settlements by 22 funeral homes that sent bodies to the Tri-State Crematory, plaintiffs lawyer Robert Smalley said Tuesday.

Families have until June 18 to file claims for a piece of that money, Smalley said.

The 22 funeral homes are among more than 50 who have agreed to settlements in a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of 1,600 relatives of people whose bodies were sent to the crematory between 1988 and 2002 from funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

A federal judge in Rome gave tentative approval to the settlements in March. Among those settlements that still are awaiting final approval are several uninsured funeral homes and those agreed to by the insurance company of the family of the former crematory operator, Ray Brent Marsh.

Marsh still faces 787 state criminal charges stemming from accusations that he dumped 334 bodies that he was supposed to cremate and passed off cement dust as ashes to the families.

The corpses were instead found strewn across the grounds of the crematory.

March's criminal trial is scheduled to start Oct. 11.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=39728