Plaintiffs will be eligible for a portion of the $3.87 million in the proposed settlement, according to court records. A portion of any cash settlement will also go to the attorneys, who could receive more than $1.1 million.
Another $500,000 would go toward the restoration of Grand View Memorial Park.
Ayers will head up the restoration process, which includes obtaining original cemetery records, identifying and storing cremated remains in the mausoleum, installing an irrigation system, rehabilitating its landscaping and keeping track of all project accounts.
Family members of people buried at the cemetery filed multiple lawsuits and a class-action lawsuit against the cemetery after state investigators in October 2005 found the remains of 4,000 people at Grand View that were not properly disposed of or buried.
The lawsuit alleged that cemetery workers buried remains in grave sites that were already occupied; disinterred remains and intermixed them with others; and converted single-burial grave sites into multiple burials.
Plaintiffs also alleged that cemetery operators carried out multiple cremations, improperly disposed of cremated remains and failed to return them to their grave sites. The state’s investigation led to the cemetery’s closure in 2006. The site’s operator, Marsha Lee Howard, was removed from her post in November 2005.
Moshe Goldsman took over as operator but closed the cemetery’s gates less than a year later due to financial struggles.
