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Additional lawsuits have been filed against a Crown Point funeral services provider and a Chicago-based crematory, accusing them of mishandling the remains of plaintiffs’ loved ones.
Now, a total of 29 lawsuits have been filed in Indiana against the businesses. Additional lawsuits have also been filed in Illinois.
The Indiana-based lawsuits were filed on Wednesday in Lake County Commercial Court. The plaintiffs are represented by CohenMalad LLP.
During a press conference on Thursday, attorneys for the plaintiffs said that while they’re seeking compensatory damages for the plaintiffs, these lawsuits are ultimately about closure for the grieving loved ones.
Each of the lawsuits accuses Crown Cremation Service LLC and Heights Crematory Inc., of failing to treat loved ones’ bodies with “dignity and respect” and allowing them to be stored improperly in trailers on Heights Crematory’s property.
Crown Cremation Service subcontracts with Heights for cremation services.
Heights Crematory did not respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment. Crown Cremation Service declined to comment on the lawsuits.
Both defendants are currently under investigation by authorities in Illinois and Indiana for the improper storage of human remains. Heights has since been shut down by Illinois authorities, according to the Daily Southtown, a newspaper covering the southside neighborhoods of Chicago.
In March, two journalists from CBS News Chicago reported that the bodies of several deceased individuals were found stacked on top of one another in a sometimes-open trailer outside Heights’ facility.
The bodies were found partially wrapped in sheets or clear plastic bags with their faces and body parts sticking out, according to CBS News.
Crown Cremation Service is being questioned by regulators in Illinois over its relationship with Heights Crematory and its use of a trailer on Heights’ property to store the bodies of Indiana residents without an Illinois license, CBS News reported.
In April, plaintiff Darla Smith filed an initial lawsuit accusing the defendants of mishandling her husband’s remains and failing to cremate his body in a timely manner. Smith entered into a contract with Crown shortly after her husband died on Aug. 4, 2024. As part of the contract, Crown informed Smith that her husband’s body would be properly cremated within five to seven days.
However, the lawsuit states her husband’s body wasn’t cremated until Aug. 23, 19 days after he died.
“In the weeks since Darla Smith’s lawsuit was filed, we’ve experienced a tidal wave of calls and emails from distressed families,” said CohenMalad attorney Gabriel Hawkins. “It appears that reports in the media thus far are not isolated incidents for periods of a few weeks, but again appear part of a much broader and disturbing pattern.”
This is not a class action lawsuit, as some of the lawsuits complain of the improper storage of the remains, while others believe the remains they received aren’t actually the remains of their loved ones.
As attorneys with CohenMalad explained, each body is tagged throughout the cremation process, but in these cases, either the tag was no longer with the remains, or the plaintiffs received remains with the wrong tag on them.
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