Woman Suing Oregon Cremation Company for $2.5M over Ashes in Father’s Urn

A woman is suing an Oregon cremation company for $2.5 million, claiming it gave her the remains of a stranger instead of her deceased father.

Kimberly Grecco, 53, discovered the remains were her not her father’s as she prepared to spread the ashes on Father’s Day last year, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Grecco, of Portland, said she opened the box from Crown Memorial Center and found a tag indicating the remains belonged to someone else, according to the lawsuit.

She is suing Cascade Funeral Directors Inc., which does business as Crown Memorial Center as well as Cascade Cremation Center, and its president, Randy Tjaden.

“People might think it’s just some ashes,” Grecco said. “But that’s my daddy. That’s my father.”

The company previously assumed responsibility for the blunder and was reprimanded by a state licensing board earlier this year.

Grecco claims Cascade failed to follow adequate procedures and violated Oregon law in the way it handled her father’s remains, according to the suit.

Grecco suffered severe emotional harm that required mental health treatment, the lawsuit said.

Cascade Funeral Directors did not return a phone call requesting comment.

Some of the remains of Grecco’s father were buried in a cemetery vault. The funeral home exhumed them and returned them to Grecco, court documents said.

Topics Lawsuits