Lawsuit Against Cemetery Alleges Family Can't Find Relative's Grave

A family has filed a lawsuit against a Jefferson County cemetery, alleging a woman hasn't been able to find the grave of her husband in the nearly two years since he was buried.

Live Oak has been the subject of a number of lawsuits filed by families that say their loved ones were buried in the wrong graves.

In some cases, families have had bodies exhumed to determine who is in the grave and whether it's in the wrong location.

KFDM News has obtained a copy of the most recent lawsuit filed April 25 in Jefferson County.

Cynthia Walker of Beaumont claims the cemetery has not been able to show her where her husband is buried since his death and funeral in May of 2006. They'd been married 43 years at the time of his death.

The lawsuit alleges "the day after Mr. Walker's funeral, his surviving wife and children were unable to locate the plot where Mr. Walker would be buried. Representatives of Live Oak Cemetery told them that Mr. Walker may still be in storage."

According to the lawsuit, after the family tried to find out where he was buried, and to this date, the cemetery has been unable or unwilling to identify the location.

The lawsuit states "agents and/or employees of Live Oak Cemetery showed Mrs. Walker one location as the burial plot of Mr. Walker; however, the plot location was not what they were shown and/or represented earlier to be his burial location. Additionally, there was never any identifying marker and/or tag on the plot indicating that was the lot or plot in Section H as the final resting place of Mr. Walker."

Mrs. Walker says because of Live Oak's inability to definitively identify the location of her husband's grave, the family has been unable to purchase and place a headstone in memory of Mr. Walker. It states the family has been unable to visit Walker at his final resting place since his funeral.

"As a result," according to the lawsuit, "Mrs. Walker and her children have suffered the death of Mr. Walker daily and have been denied the right to pay their respects to him at the funeral home."

The lawsuit alleges "the Defendant's conduct was extreme and outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."

The family is suing for mental anguish, economic damages, exemplary damages and attorney's fees.