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Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.
Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark
Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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Funeral chain to pay families millions |
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Wednesday, 03 December 2003 |
Dec. 03, 2003
A company that runs two Jewish cemeteries in South Florida has agreed to a $100 million settlement with families who alleged that graves were desecrated.
BY NOAH BIERMAN
The world's largest funeral home chain will pay $100 million to Jewish families whose loved ones' remains were mishandled and misplaced at two South Florida cemeteries.
The settlement, whose details were still being ironed out, will be presented to Broward Circuit Judge Leonard Fleet on Thursday for his approval.
The payout will close a class-action suit against Houston-based Service Corporation International on behalf of families with plots at Menorah Gardens cemeteries in northern Palm Beach and western Broward counties. In some cases, cemetery employees disinterred bodies and tossed bones into the woods to make room at the crowded, oversold cemetery grounds.
The allegations were particularly appalling to the Jewish cemetery's more religiously observant clientele. Jewish law prohibits disturbance of the dead.
Both plaintiffs' attorney Ervin Gonzalez and the funeral company confirmed the outlines of the settlement late Tuesday. Lawyers delayed jury selection earlier Tuesday in the first individual case against the company so they could have more time to negotiate.
`GOES A LONG WAY'
''We believe that it goes a long way to making right a lot of things that were being done wrong for a long time,'' said Gonzalez, of Coral Gables.
The details of the settlement will spell out how the money will be divided and will outline a process for deciding individual damages. In addition to the $100 million for families, SCI will spend several million more to reorganize the cemeteries and fix up grave markers.
The bulk of the damage awards will likely go to families whose loved ones were buried in the wrong place or those whose remains were desecrated. Gonzalez has previously estimated that number between 500 and 750 plaintiffs.
A dozen of the most egregious cases -- in which desecration was allegedly intentional -- had been removed from the class action. Jurors were expected to hear the first one this week, before the lawyers halted to continue discussing the settlement.
The late Col. Hyman Cohen was buried in 1983 in a spot in the Palm Beach County cemetery reserved for a woman, Frances Gold, of Pembroke Pines. She died six years later.
With no room for both bodies, employees dug up Cohen's remains, cracking his vault and throwing some of his bones into the woods. Others were mixed in with Gold's.
COUSIN IN HOLOCAUST
Other plaintiffs, such as Shirley Eisenberg, testified in court at previous hearings. Her cousin, a Holocaust survivor, bought plots for himself and his wife in Broward so they could be buried side by side.
But without telling relatives, cemetery workers moved his grave site four plots away from that of his wife, Ann Goldstein. Then they removed Goldstein's headstone.
To Eisenberg, the denial of her cousin's final wish signified that his life of suffering would continue into eternity.
The allegations were publicly announced two years ago, prompting an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office. From the beginning, SCI has said the problems were isolated and blamed a few rogue employees. But, along with other revelations around the country, they cast a cloud over the entire industry.
SEPARATE SETTLEMENT
The state Attorney General's Office settled a separate claim with the funeral company in May for $14 million in damages, customer refunds and penalties. Two company executives were charged with felonies.
It's not immediately clear what impact the settlement will have on SCI's bottom line. The company said it believes its legal troubles, which include the class action, will be covered by insurance. But in a filing last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SCI added ``there are various unresolved coverage issues relative to such insurance.''
SCI didn't elaborate but said it hasn't estimated how much its insurance would cover. SCI's legal woes already have hurt its financial performance. Legal bills that reached $32 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30 led SCI to post a $5.6 million loss. It earned a $4.1 million profit for the same period last year.
REVENUE UP A BIT
The company reported $571.1 million in revenue in the latest quarter, a slight increase from last year, when it posted $560.6 million in revenue.
The company followed a wave of consolidation in the funeral industry in the 1990s. At its height, SCI owned 4,500 businesses in 20 countries. In 1999, the company began dropping some of those businesses to cut costs.
It now has 2,236 funeral parlors, 429 cemeteries and 190 crematoriums, covering eight countries.
The conclusion of the class action cases will not end Menorah Gardens' problems. Another 67 plaintiffs have filed suit in Palm Beach County. Their lawyer, Ted Leopold of Palm Beach Gardens, said his cases are moving forward.
Herald staff writer Patrick Danner contributed to this report.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/7401027.htm |
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