CHARLESTON – A cemetery company is named in yet another lawsuit claiming it placed the remains of a woman in a mausoleum crypt that had been purchased by others.
Melissa Young, individually and as administratrix of the estate of Robin Young, filed her complaint December 20 in Kanawha Circuit Court against StoneMor Inc., StoneMor Partners LP, StoneMor Operating LLC, StoneMor GP LLC, Cornerstone Family Services of West Virginia LLC and Cornerstone Family Services of West Virginia Subsidiary Inc. The defendant companies own and operate Kanawha Valley Memorial Gardens in Glasgow.
According to the complaint, Robin Young passed away December 26, 2020. Soon after her death, Robin Young’s remains were put to rest in a crypt in a mausoleum at Kanawha Valley Memory Gardens.
The complaint says the defendants knew the crypt was not the proper resting place for Robin Young because it already had been purchased by other individuals.
“With full knowledge the crypt was not available and was owned by other parties, the defendants knowingly and willfully placed the remains of Robin Young in the crypt,” the complaint states. “To no avail, the plaintiff has requested that the remains of Robin Young be properly placed in another crypt. However, the defendants have refused to do so.”
The plaintiff accuses the defendants of fraud, concealment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“The defendants had a scheme whereby they could place two sets of remains in one crypt in order to increase their profitability,” the complaint alleges.
The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as pre- and post-judgment interests, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
The estate is being represented by John W. Alderman of the Law Offices of John W. Alderman in Charleston and by David R. Barney Jr. of Thompson Barney in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Duke Bloom.
It is unclear if this case is related to another case filed just five days earlier regarding a Maryland couple that said StoneMor had placed the remains of a deceased person in a mausoleum plot they had purchased for a family member.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in both of these cases said they were unsure if the cases were related.
StoneMor has been named in a host of other lawsuits filed in recent years in West Virginia.
In 2013, a StoneMor cemetery in Beckley was accused of selling plots twice. In 2019, a man filed a lawsuit against a StoneMor cemetery in Logan County for alleged grave desecration.
In 2020, a couple sued after an unknown body was found in another plot at Kanawha Valley Memory Gardens purchased 43 years earlier. Last year, a woman sued a StoneMor facility in Cabell County after her sister’s casket floated to the surface days after her funeral.
The company also has been named as defendants in a personal injury lawsuit by an employee, a discrimination lawsuit and a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 22-C-1069