Fraud Within the Funeral Industry
05012012
Lauriaenne Lamb Sconce and her husband, Jerry, former operators of the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, CA, were arrested in 1987 with their son, David, after investigators alleged that they had mishandled human remains. Sconce attorney told jurors that mass cremations, commingling of ashes, and dental gold and other body part extractions did take place at the third generation family business. But these acts were done by their son, David, without their permission or knowledge. The Deputy District Attorney alleges David did not engage in the illegal activity alone.
The action performed by this funeral home has not changed my view about funeral service. The funeral industry is no different from the financial or insurance industry. There are individuals in the world that will constantly go the extra mile to maximize their profits. In the legal field we are taught to bend the rule but make sure you do not break it. In this example it is clear the defendant broke the rules and regulations. The defendant continued to break the rule until he was eventually caught. If you take a look at the article you will see that a class action suit was settled involving 5,000 deceased people. If you estimate they performed 3 cremations per day, every day of the year it would equate to 13 years of fraudulent to cremate 5,000 bodies.
I do agree with the outcome of this case. Somebody had to be held accountable for these actions. In the legal field, an employer (principal) may be held liable (in addition to the employee) for actions performed by their employee (agent) if employee if performing activities within the scope of their work. In this case David, an employee, was acting on behalf of his employer. In this case David pleaded guilty to 21 counts of mishandling remains and was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
The plaintiff being the state represented by the District Attorney was right in their determination to hold somebody liable for these actions. Had there not been an
Lauriaenne Lamb Sconce and her husband, Jerry, former operators of the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, CA, were arrested in 1987 with their son, David, after investigators alleged that they had mishandled human remains. Sconce attorney told jurors that mass cremations, commingling of ashes, and dental gold and other body part extractions did take place at the third generation family business. But these acts were done by their son, David, without their permission or knowledge. The Deputy District Attorney alleges David did not engage in the illegal activity alone.
The action performed by this funeral home has not changed my view about funeral service. The funeral industry is no different from the financial or insurance industry. There are individuals in the world that will constantly go the extra mile to maximize their profits. In the legal field we are taught to bend the rule but make sure you do not break it. In this example it is clear the defendant broke the rules and regulations. The defendant continued to break the rule until he was eventually caught. If you take a look at the article you will see that a class action suit was settled involving 5,000 deceased people. If you estimate they performed 3 cremations per day, every day of the year it would equate to 13 years of fraudulent to cremate 5,000 bodies.
I do agree with the outcome of this case. Somebody had to be held accountable for these actions. In the legal field, an employer (principal) may be held liable (in addition to the employee) for actions performed by their employee (agent) if employee if performing activities within the scope of their work. In this case David, an employee, was acting on behalf of his employer. In this case David pleaded guilty to 21 counts of mishandling remains and was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
The plaintiff being the state represented by the District Attorney was right in their determination to hold somebody liable for these actions. Had there not been an