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JANUARY 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
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By Atty. Harvey I. Lapin
Harvey I. Lapin, P.C., is amember of the Illinois Bar and Florida Bar. He
is a member of the faculty at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago
and is presently teaching the subject of Tax Exempt Organizations. He
is also associated with Florida-based law firm Sachs, Sax & Caplan,
leading the firm’s Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Practice Group.
He has written numerous articles on the subject of taxation, funeral
and cemetery law.
The subject discussed in this article and future articles resulted from
the questions from readers. If you have any questions about the topics
covered in this column or in obtaining professional assistance, please
contact the author c/o Harvey I. Lapin, P.C., PO Box 1327, Northbrook,
IL 60065-1327. Phone (847)509-0501 or fax to (847)509-1027.
The author writes articles for CB Legal Publishing Corporation also
publishes the Release FormKit, which was prepared by the author and
has been recently updated and revised. This Kit contains Release and
Hold Harmless forms for Funeral Homes, Cemeteries and Crematories
to use in situations where it has resolved a complaint with a customer,
and wants to be sure that there will be no further action by the cus-
tomer or their relatives. The forms can be purchased on a custom ba-
sis with your business name and addressed preprinted at the top of
each form. Call Cheryl Lapin and she will send you an order form that
contains the current prices. See the number below.
The author also writes more extensive articles on subjects of inter-
est to the industry in the newsletter Cemetery & Funeral Business and
Legal Guide published by CB Legal Publishing Corporation. Anyone
interested in subscribing can contact Cheryl Lapin, at the address
of CB Legal Publishing Corporation, PO Box 1327, Northbrook, IL
60065-1327, and fax to (847) 509-1027 or call (847) 509-0501. Since
January 1, 2010 the Cemetery & Funeral Business and Legal Guide is
available in an electronic PDF version. The Subscription price is now
$75.00 per year. Readers that wish to subscribe should send a check
in the amount of $75.00 payable to CB Legal Publishing Corporation
along with the name of the subscribing individual and the email ad-
dress to be used.
Legal
Speak
Avoid Trials If You Can
The author has stated numerous times both dur-
ing presentations and in articles, including this col-
umn that being involved in litigation is not a good
idea. Of course, if you are sued and become a defen-
dant there is no option about being involved. How-
ever, when involved in litigation there are still many
opportunities during the process to avoid a trial.
Recently, the author was involved in a dispute that
did not settle and resulted in a trial. The follow-
ing personal observations were made before, dur-
ing and after the actual trial and are intended for
the sole purpose of providing information to read-
ers about the process with some suggestions about
how to participate in the process. These comments
are not intended to be all inclusive nor are they in-
tended to be critical of the judicial system in this
country.
Hopefully, you will never be involved in an ac-
tual trial but if you are following these suggestions
should be of assistance in reaching a successful out-
come or minimizing liability.
1. Whether a plaintiff or a defendant it is important
that you are personally involved in the process.
When an attorney says it is not necessary to attend
a hearing or deposition find out more about the
event. If it is a substantive matter there is always the
possibility that some inaccurate statement will be
made that might subsequently become important
and there will be no opportunity to change it.
2. While litigation lawyers typically are familiar with
court procedures and rules they do not personally
know all of the details or facts in a dispute or about
your business. The attorney is your advocate or de-
fender and it is up to you to provide the attorney
with the details and information about your busi-
ness and the facts.
3. Litigation normally involves the filing of a com-
plaint, an answer, procedural motions, discovery,
deposition and the actual trial. You must be per-
sonally involved in each aspect of these procedures
to make sure the facts and allegations in the dispute
are as accurate as possible.
4. Remember that most people will not remember the
exact details of what occurred when required to tes-
tify years after the event. Unfortunately, some wit-
ness may lie or misstate the facts for many reasons.
It also is possible that witnesses of the same event
will interpret what occurred differently. Unfortu-
nately, these problems can cause confusion that can
cause a bad result.
5. It still is the author’s advice that litigation should
be avoided. The whole process is expensive and it is
very possible to actually win without obtaining any
consideration because of the expenses.
Metropolitan Mortuary Jurupa Valley holds
Grand Opening
Owner Shun Newbern, CFSP, with Debbie Schlottman of Dodge
Chemicals.
One of three staterooms displaying Astral Caskets and the tribute blanket by Funeral Home Gifts.
JURUPA VALLEY,CA—
Met-
ropolitan Mortuary Jurupa
Valley
held a Grand Open-
ing and Ribbon Cutting Cel-
ebration, Sunday, December
2, 2012 at their first location,
2940 Rubidoux Blvd, Jurupa
Valley, CA, bordering down-
town Riverside.
The well attended open
house included guided tours
led by the staff and volun-
teers, ribbon cutting with
dignitaries, display of prod-
ucts and services in the three
visitation rooms and endless
food and refreshments. The
manager and owner,
Shun
Newbern
, CFSP, wanted
this diverse community to
have a modern full service
mortuary. Through much
planning, that is what he has
provided – not a store front
operation. The staff revealed
plans for a state of the art
embalming room for spring
2013 completion.
Since the October 15
opening of the mortuary,
Shun has serviced many
families in the area and is
watching the growth of the
shipping request for funer-
al directors from around
the nation. In addition to
the modern facilities, Met-
ropolitan’s greatest asset is
the staff members. Funeral
director and
Cypress College
graduate,
Elizabeth Torres
speaks and writes Spanish
for families who desire that
needed service.
Lydia Pearce
is a service di-
rector bringing nearly 12 years of experi-
ence to the mortuary.
Julie Dulin
is a re-
ceptionist and licensed cosmetologist, with
enormous experience in detailed hair de-
signs and excellence with the final touches.
Corey Smith
joins the team as a service di-
rector and field operator, specializing in de-
cedent transportation for the entire state of
California and Nevada.
Hundreds of guests were in attendance in-
cluding: Jurupa Valley Mayor
Laura Rough-
ton
, City Councilman
Micheal Goodland
,
Rialto Board of Education President
Joanne
T. Gilbert
, Superintendent
Willie Pearce
,
Pastor
John Branham, Jr
.,
Dr. Ronald Bar-
rett
(
Loyola Marymount University
),
Deb-
bie Schlottman
(Dodge Company),
A.
Leon
and
Tonya Tillman
(
Tillman’s River-
side Mortuary
),
Michael McGraw
(
Todd’s
Memorial Chapel
),
Jack Johnson
,
David
Brown
,
Gerri Green
, and
Ivy Hemphill
(
Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortu-
ary
),
Samantha Scott
(
Joshua Tree Memo-
rial Park and Mortuary
),
Danette Moore
(
Miller-Jones Mortuary
),
Dave Carlson
(
Inglewood Mortuary
),
Betsy Allen
(
One
Legacy Services
),
Anthony “Ted” Felder
,
CFSP and
Linda McCoy
, (
Ted’s Affordable
Mortuary
),
La Quinta Howard
and
Law-
rence Thomas
(
Inglewood Cemetery Mor-
tuary
),
Evergreen Memorial Historical
Cemetery
,
Cypress College
, and members of
Epsilon Nu Delta Mortuary Fraternity. For
additional information on shipping services
please call the office at 951-683-5400 or go
to
for the
video and photo tribute of the event.
S
END
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EWS
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FUNERAL HOME &
CEMETERY NEWS
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