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Consumer Affairs Reaches Settlement with Glendale Cemetery

Agreement Requires Grand View Memorial Park Be Sold, Endowment Fund Reimbursed

SACRAMENTO – The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) has reached a settlement with Grand View Memorial Park, two years after an investigation into the Glendale cemetery's operations uncovered a host of state law violations.

Under the stipulated settlement and disciplinary order, Grand View's principal minority shareholder, Moshe Goldsman, a licensed funeral director and cemetery salesperson, will receive three years probation, during which time he will be required to sell the cemetery to a person or entity suitable to DCA. In the event the property is still not sold after three years, the probation period will be extended until it is. He will also have to make a $50,000 claim against the cemetery's bond to reimburse the cemetery's endowment care fund, which pays for care and upkeep of the grounds. DCA's Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, which conducted the Grand View investigation, believes the money was improperly withdrawn by Marsha Howard, the cemetery's principal majority shareholder and manager who directed day-to-day operations at Grand View and who died in November 2006.

Oversight of the endowment care fund must also be turned over to a DCA-approved trustee.

The settlement becomes effective September 27, 2007.

"Consumers have had a rough time over the last two years. Only court-approved burials have been allowed for nearly two years and the cemetery, because of its own mismanagement, has had to severely curtail visiting hours. The Bureau hopes that a sale to a responsible party will allow Grand View to resume normal operations in the not-too-distant future," said Sherrie Moffett-Bell, Chief of DCA's Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.

Following an inspection by a Bureau representative that uncovered numerous violations of state law, an Administrative Law Judge in November 2005 granted an Interim Suspension Order (ISO) against the cemetery.

Although the order allowed Grand View Memorial Park to remain open so that people could continue to visit the graves of loved ones, it prohibited any new graves from being sold or burials conducted until the Bureau completed its review of the cemetery's operations.

The investigation's findings included:

• Failure to properly dispose of approximately 4,000 sets of cremated human remains, some dating as far back as the 1930s, that were found stored at the site.
• The sale of several cemetery plots to more than one buyer;
• Disinterments without the necessary permits;
• Failure to maintain complete and accurate cemetery and cremation records;

Grand View's owners closed the cemetery in May 2006, citing financial difficulties. Since then, the City of Glendale has stepped in to keep the property open to visitors on a limited basis.

DCA's Cemetery and Funeral Bureau licenses and regulates the California funeral and cemetery industries. It also investigates complaints against funeral homes, crematories, state-licensed cemeteries and individual licensees. For more information, visit www.cfb.ca.gov.

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