Mortuary license denied

Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Former operators of a defunct mortuary hit with numerous state complaints have been denied a license to open another funeral parlor in North Las Vegas.

"A lot of things have happened that were not in the best interest of the people in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas," Sharon Shaffer, chairwoman of the state Board of Funeral Directors, Embalmers and Operators of Cemeteries and Crematories, told the applicants Wednesday.

Linda Wills and Donna Thompson, former operators of Universal Funeraria Cremation and Burial Society, applied to be licensed at the Forest Lawn Mortuary Funeraria and Forest Lawn Cremation Corp. at 2071 Las Vegas Blvd. North in North Las Vegas.

After a four-hour hearing, board member Mike Parke said the former operators have not been "morally responsible to clients or debtors or others in the community." He said restitution was not made to customers and if bills were paid, they were at a reduced rate.

He accused the operators of intermingling corporations "trying to deceive the board."

Universal Funeraria, at 2200 E. Patrick Lane, had been the subject of a complaint by the board involving various allegations. It eventually agreed to a consent order involving one count for refusing to refund money, but it ran into financial problems and was evicted from part of its headquarters.

"We've been smashed by the media," Wills said. "We're trying to pay our bills."

Shaffer raised the issue of a $461 bad check given by Universal to the state Health Division in December 1995. Only after the state sought a criminal complaint was the check paid in August of this year.

Parks said "excessive force had to be used to get you to pay your bills. You want us to give you a license when you don't pay your bills?"

Wills and Thompson conceded there had been other bounced checks, but Beller told the board that during this troublesome period, Thompson's husband of 29 years suffered heart problems and accumulated $300,000 in medical bills.

He said Thompson was under "emotional distress" during the period when no income was being received by the company.

"We didn't write checks to defraud people," Wills said. "We wrote checks only when we had money in the bank."

Elaine Guenaga, a Las Vegas attorney representing the nationally known Forest Lawn of California, told the board it should not issue a license allowing Wills and Thompson to open a funeral home using the Forest Lawn name. She called it an infringement on the trademark.

Guenaga said the name would "mislead the public" to expect the same services and rates offered by the California company. She said many Californians now living in Southern Nevada who had prepaid contracts with Forest Lawn would be confused.

But Beller argued that the Nevada secretary of state's office has accepted the name of the proposed business in North Las Vegas and the California business is not operating in Nevada.

"It's totally inappropriate for the board to consider this," Beller said.

Shaffer also read a memorandum from a North Las Vegas official that the proposed mortuary and crematorium had not secured a license. But Forest Lawn officials said they are ready to operate.