CHARLESTON — A woman is suing a funeral home, alleging that she was given another individuals' ashes in place of her father's.
Ceressah Rice, as daughter of Augustus Daniel Hathorn, filed a complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against Leonard Johnson Funeral Home Inc., dba Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home.
The suit states that on Sept. 15, 2018, the plaintiff received her father's ashes. The defendant had completed the cremation. The plaintiff opened the container and saw a certificate of cremation, but the name listed was not her father's butinstead a woman's name. The defendant allegedly tried to dismiss the concerns despite giving the plaintiff the wrong ashes.
The defendant is accused of fraud and negligence.
The plaintiff is seeking all reasonable sums due, attorney fees and court costs. The plaintiff is represented by Paul Stroebel of Stroebel & Johnson PLLC in Charleston.
The case has been assigned to Judge Louis Bloom.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 19-C-257
