Eden Memorial Park (Service Corporation International)

Mission Hills, CA 1985--2009 Cemetery Districts

California Department of Consumer Affairs Cemetery and Funeral Bureau Los Angeles Superior Court California Attorney General Grave Desecration Improper Burial Practices Burial Vault Destruction Consumer Fraud Evidence Tampering

Penalty

$80.5 million

Outcome

Service Corporation International agreed to an estimated $80.5 million class action settlement on behalf of more than 25,000 families after employees at Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills knowingly broke as many as 1,500 buried concrete vaults between 1985 and 2009 to make room for new burials; the judge also sanctioned SCI for evidence tampering during the litigation.

Details

Eden Memorial Park (Service Corporation International) — Grave Desecration Settlement (1985–2009)

Outcome: SCI agreed to an estimated $80.5 million settlement on behalf of more than 25,000 families after Eden Memorial Park employees knowingly broke buried concrete vaults and moved remains to make room for new burials for over two decades; the presiding judge also sanctioned SCI for intentional evidence tampering and destruction during litigation.

Background

Eden Memorial Park is a large Jewish cemetery located in Mission Hills, Los Angeles County, California — one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the greater Los Angeles area. The cemetery was acquired by Service Corporation International (SCI) in February 1985. SCI is the largest owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States.

The Desecration

The class action lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleged that from February 1985 (when SCI acquired Eden Memorial Park) through September 2009, cemetery employees under SCI's management systematically desecrated the remains of interred individuals. The scheme involved:

Vault destruction: Employees knowingly broke as many as 1,500 buried concrete vaults to create additional burial space in plots that were already occupied
Remains displacement: When caskets and vaults were broken, human remains fell out and were displaced or mixed with soil and fill material
New interments over existing remains: New burials were placed in spaces where existing remains had been crushed or displaced, without families of original interees being notified
Profit motive: The desecration was carried out to maximize revenue by fitting more burials into the same physical space

The case was brought on behalf of a class of more than 25,000 Jewish families.

Evidence Tampering

During the litigation, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge sanctioned SCI after finding that the company intentionally tampered with and destroyed evidence related to the class action — a finding that went beyond the underlying desecration allegations to establish willful obstruction of the court process.

Settlement Terms

On February 27, 2014, SCI and Eden Memorial Park agreed to a class action settlement valued at an estimated $80.5 million:

Direct compensation fund: $35.25 million distributed to class members
Cemetery improvements: $45 million committed for improvements to Eden Memorial Park
Administrative costs: $250,000

SCI did not admit liability as part of the settlement.

Aftermath

Families who wished to disinter their relatives from Eden Memorial Park were offered full refunds to facilitate the removal of remains. The settlement required Eden Memorial Park to undergo substantial operational and physical improvements. The cemetery has faced additional lawsuits alleging continued problems after the 2014 settlement.

Primary Source: CNN — California cemetery agrees to $80 million settlement over grave desecration (February 27, 2014)

How Crucible Prevents This

Eden Memorial Park operated under SCI's corporate management for over 20 years while employees systematically desecrated graves — demonstrating that even large corporate owners with compliance programs can fail to detect operational misconduct by field workers. Cemetery compliance controls must include: independent physical reconciliation of burial records against plot inventory, prohibition on employees directing both burials and plot sales without independent oversight, and a mandatory incident-reporting protocol for any unexpected encounters with existing remains during burial operations. The evidence tampering sanction separately illustrates the need for litigation hold protocols when a compliance matter is identified.

Source: CNN — California cemetery agrees to $80 million settlement over grave desecration (February 27, 2014)

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