West Palm Beach, Florida, April 19, 2002 – On Wednesday, April 17, 2002, a twenty-member search team, which included Palm Beach County’s medical examiner, arrived at Menorah Gardens & Funeral Chapels with a search warrant and a backhoe to investigate allegations of grave desecrations. After two days of digging, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agents found human bones from five different bodies in a wooded area near the Menorah Gardens cemetery in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Allegations of wrongdoings surfaced on December 19, 2001 when a class-action lawsuit was filed by relatives who accuse the world’s largest funeral operator, Service Corporation International (SCI), of desecrating Jewish cemetery sites, misplacing bodies, overselling plots and removing bodies from their burial sites at two of its Broward and Palm Beach Menorah Gardens Cemeteries.
“With the help of state investigators, we have been able to prove the allegations”, said Ervin A. Gonzalez, attorney for the families. “We feel that the state’s findings not only add credibility to our case, but it helps send a message to SCI. ‘You can’t hurt consumers and expect to get away with it.’ We hope that this message is received by funeral operators everywhere.”
Attorneys for the families are working with state agents by putting them in contact with current and former employees of Menorah Gardens in hopes of uncovering further misconduct. “We feel that this is just the tip of the iceberg”, said Gonzalez. “This is an ongoing investigation which we hope will bring truth and justice to the forefront.”
Ervin A. Gonzalez is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and Business Litigation by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Mr. Gonzalez is currently on the Board of Governors for The Florida Bar and he is past President of The Dade County Bar Association. He has also served as President of the Dade County Trial Lawyers Association and is an adjunct professor at The University of Miami School of Law. His areas of expertise include catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, medical malpractice, aviation accidents, trucking accidents and class action litigation.
