Class action lawsuit filed against Penrose funeral home and owners following investigation
PENROSE, Colo. (KRDO) - The law firm Leventhal Lewis Kuhn Taylor Swan PC filed a class action lawsuit this morning against Return to Nature Funeral Home and its owners, Carie Hallford and Jon Hallford.
Court documents show that the plaintiff is Richard Law, a retired Colorado Springs educator, whose father, Roger, was recently identified as one of the 189.
Law says “It is outrageous for the defendants to exploit people at their most vulnerable. Families should be able to focus on grieving their lost loved ones.” Mr. Law continued, “For nearly three years, Return to Nature Funeral Home and the Hallfords allowed my father to rot along with nearly 200 others. I’m honored to stand up on behalf of my father and the other victims in this case.”
Leventhal Lewis Kuhn Taylor Swan PC shareholder, Andrew Swan, says that the purpose of the lawsuit is accountability.
"The defendants’ ghastly misconduct is what happens when profit trumps principle. Rather than cremating the bodies entrusted to them, the defendants gave counterfeit ashes to families to hide their illegal behavior,” Swan said.
Court documents claim that in some cases, including in Roger’s case, the owners went as far as to return counterfeit ashes to the decedents’ families and falsify the decedents’ death certificates. They also allege that the fake ashes Law received were crushed concrete.
