Forest Hill Cemeteries and Funeral Homes in Tennessee

In the news. "...Smart announced in July 2006 that he wouldn't honor prepaid Forest Hill funeral policies in full. Until Tennessee seized the funeral properties and began honoring the policies again, families had to pay thousands of dollars extra to bury policy holders..." A search from the Dept. of Commerce and Insurance indicated that in May 2006 the funeral home was fined a mere $1,250.00 combined for failure to provide services after two years of receiving payment and disrespecting the memory of the dead.

Burial Services Program
Respondent: Forest Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park – East, Memphis, TN
Violation: Failure to maintain the cemetery so as to reflect respect for the memory of the
dead
Action: $250 Civil Penalty

Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers
Respondent: Forest Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park – South, Memphis, TN
Violation: Immoral or unprofessional conduct – failure to furnish contracted merchandise
or services for two years after receiving payment
Action: $1000 Civil Penalty

With Civil penalties that are this small it appears to be an open invitation to re-offend. Unfortunately, this case is associated with another in Michigan involving over 70 million dollars. 22 million was involved in the Forest Hill case according to the article today. Previous articles indicated that sentencing was scheduled for a man found guilty on Jan. 24th. This case is set for trial on March 3.

You can read about the Michigan case here.