Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against the owners of Grandview Memorial Park cemetery in Ravenna on behalf of 26 families who haven't received headstones and cemetery plots.
The lawsuit accuses the cemeteries and owners Theodore L. Martin Jr. and Arminda Martin of violating Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act.
“When people are grieving the loss of a family member, they shouldn’t have to deal with problems like this,” Attorney General DeWine said. “Our goal is to help consumers who have been harmed and to enforce the state’s consumer protection laws.”
The Martin's own two cemeteries in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania.
Fairview Memorial Park is located at 5035 Columbus Pike in Lewis Center, and Grandview Memorial Park is located at 5400 Lakewood Road in Ravenna.
According to the Attorney General’s lawsuit, the cemeteries accepted money or credit card payments from consumers for headstones, vaults, and other memorial items they failed to deliver. Estimated consumer losses currently total about $36,000 based on 26 unresolved complaints.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit, filed in the Portage County Common Pleas Court, seeks restitution for consumers, an end to any violations of the Consumer Sales Practices Act, and civil penalties.
Theodore L. Martin Jr. and Arminda Martin also have been charged criminally in Portage County in separate cases involving related activity.
