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Families sue crematory, funeral home chain

LAFAYETTE, Georgia (CNN) -- Attorneys for five people whose relatives were supposed to be cremated by Tri-State Crematory in northwest Georgia filed a class-action lawsuit on Wednesday against the crematory and the company that owns a Tennessee funeral home that did business with the crematory.

At least 206 bodies have been found buried, lyiing on the ground and jammed into funeral vaults designed to hold one body since authorities began searching the crematory grounds Saturday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday.

MORE STORIES Rental properties of crematory owners to be searched    Requirements for crematories in Georgia A room with 30-person seating capacity where funeral services are conducted A display room with at least 4 urns One operable motor hearse One operable retort for cremation One church truck Current crematory license on display Source: State Code of Georgia

The lawsuit, filed at the Walker County Courthouse in Lafayette, claims Tri-State, run by Ray Brent Marsh, improperly disposed of the bodies. It also claims Prime Succession Inc., which owns of several funeral homes including Buckner Rush Funeral in Cleveland, Tennessee, also was responsible for not disposing bodies properly. Tri-State is near the border with Tennessee and Alabama.

"The defendants intentionally and recklessly mistreated human bodies, stacked them together and returned containers filled with ashes, sticks, insects, sand, gravel, ground masonry particles and other things to the funeral homes for delivery to the families of the deceased, whose bodies had been entrusted to the defendants," the lawsuit said.

Marsh, 28, is in the Walker County Jail facing 16 felony counts of theft by deception -- one count for each of the bodies identified at the time he was charged Saturday. He may also face federal charges, officials said.

The civil lawsuit claims that one of the plaintiffs paid Buckner Rush $1,020 to cremate her mother, and the funeral home sent the body to Tri-State.

The woman later learned that her mother "was not in fact cremated, but her body was dumped and or concealed with hundreds of others who were supposed to have been cremated" by Tri-State, the lawsuit said.

The defendants' action caused "severe emotional distress," said the suit, adding that substantial expenses likely will be needed to recover and rebury the remains. It seeks undisclosed damages for compensation, pain and suffering and punitive damages.

Since it is a class action, the lawsuit is open to anyone who contracted to have cremations performed by Tri-State.