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Judge Grants Class Action Status To Tri-State Suits
Atlanta Journal Constitution
March 18, 2003
U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy ruled that plaintiffs in the Tri-State Crematory civil case can have class action status.
Eligible to participate in the class action suit are: (a) next of kin of decedents delivered for cremation to Tri-State Crematory from 1988 to 2002; (b) anyone party to any contract with any defendant regarding funeral arrangements for a decedent who was taken to Tri-State; (c) the next of kin of decedents whose remains have been recovered from Tri-State property.
Murphy's ruling differed greatly from that of Tennessee circuit Judge Neal Thomas, who ruled that the class action would include only those who had bodies delivered to Tri-State between 1997 and 2002.
The Tuesday ruling involves Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama and names 56 funeral homes.
Ray Brent Marsh, the operator of Tri-State, is under house arrest at his parents' home. He's charged with 333 counts of theft by deception and 64 counts of abuse of a corpse. Marsh and his family have been named in all of the suits.
Kathryn Barnett, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, labeled Murphy's decision as a victory. "It enables the families to unite together, it gives them more power because they can combine resources," she said. "They can hire expert witnesses, have help in the fact investigation, and let a jury hear everything that happened instead of letting defense attorneys pick these cases apart one by one."
The civil trial will begin in October in Rome.