The family of Paulette Patricia Bradley thought she had been laid to rest.
Instead, the Clayton County family claims they received not the ashes of their loved one, but those of someone else. Bradley’s daughter filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a hospital system, a funeral home and a crematory — blaming all three for the mistake.
The situation has devolved into a back-and-forth between a distressed family and businesses who say they've been wrongfully accused.
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The civil suit accuses the parties — Southern Regional Medical Center, Speer-Shelton Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Atlanta — of fraud along with deceit and misrepresentation because of their alleged mishandling of the remains. The suit asks for no specific monetary amount and wants a jury to determine the family’s level of mental distress and suffering.
All three deny wrongdoing.
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Bradley died at age 69 on Sept. 26 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, said the family’s attorney, Tricia “CK” Hoffler.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Bradley’s daughter Regina Wynn, who cared for her mother for 14 years after the diagnosis, said in a statement.
Wynn and her family held a service for Bradley on Sept. 29 with what they thought were Bradley’s remains.
The family found out about the mix-up about two weeks later, according to the lawsuit, when the hospital called Wynn on Oct. 11 to say that someone was there to pick up her mother’s body.
There are so many differing versions of what happened that the family felt the only way to find the truth was through litigation, their attorney said.
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“Southern Regional had no role in what occurred after the body was properly released to the funeral home,” said a statement from hospital spokeswoman Kimberly Golden-Benner on Thursday.
Edwin Shelton, who is named in the lawsuit and whose wife owns the McDonough funeral home, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday that he doesn’t feel the family is acting in good faith.
“If they were being truthful, I would have no problem at all,” he said.
Shelton said there was no name on the box when he received the ashes, and there was no death certificate. He remembers thinking: “I guess these are Ms. Bradley’s.”
Shelton blames the crematory, which he said was supposed to pick up two bodies for him that day, but only picked up one.
Mike Boston, with the Conyers crematory, previously told Channel 2 Action News he didn't deliver unmarked ashes to Shelton and said he didn't receive authorization to cremate Bradley until the day Wynn got the call from Southern Regional to claim the body.
Once Shelton realized there had been a mistake, he refunded the family and gave them some extra money.
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“I’m willing to work out everything with this family,” he said before the lawsuit was filed. “ ... I haven’t got this far trying to cheat anyone.”
Hoffler said her client paid the funeral home $800, and Shelton wrote them a $1,000 check upon realizing the mix-up. She said the family plans to return the check.
Shelton said he has Bradley’s remains. Hoffler claimed she contacted him to get them back, but that he hasn’t responded.
Hoffler expects responses to the lawsuit from all three parties within 30 days.
Southern Regional said Thursday that Hoffler is “knowingly” attempting to damage the hospital’s reputation and they are willing to file a defamation suit.
Hoffler’s stance is clear. “I dare them to file a suit against me for defending my client ... It’s not going to change a single thing. We’re in litigation, and litigation is a war.”
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