Tri-State Crematory Litigation

April 3, 2026

The nation was horrified when facts came to light that an unlicensed crematory operator had discarded over 1,000 bodies on his property in Noble, Georgia. David Randolph Smith filed the first case, a class action suit, and was Class Counsel in the federal court trial in Rome, Georgia. Mr. Smith engaged The Fleissner Firm in Chattanooga, Tennessee as co-counsel for the plaintiffs. The firm worked with the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser to prosecute the case and bring the case to a conclusion via settlement after seven days of trial.

Settlements:

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  • On March 11, 2004 the funeral homes settled in the second week of the trial for $40 million.
  • On August 26, 2004 the Marshes agreed to a settlement for $80 million. As part of the settlement the crematory site is being returned to a natural state, as shown by this photograph taken May 2, 2005:

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One of the purposes of tort law, in addition to compensation, is deterrence. Holding funeral homes and the Marshes accountable for what happened at the Tri-State Crematory will change funeral industry practices and prevent crematory abuses from happening again.For example, the February 2004 issue of Funeral Director, the industry’s leading trade publication, has a front page article titled, Crematory Due Diligence: The procedures and forms your funeral home needs to conduct due diligence when it utilizes third-party crematories. The article states:

  • “Funeral homes that use outside crematories are hiring third parties to provide an integral part of the services they have sold to a family. As such, the funeral home has a responsibility to the family to ensure that the crematory will carry out the cremation in a legal, professional and ethical manner. The best method to obtain these assurances, and to protect the funeral homes from liability in case of a problem at the crematory, is to carry out the four-step due-diligence process outlined in this section.”

We are honored to have handled this case and thank all of our clients, experts and co-counsel who worked so hard to bring this case to a successful conclusion.

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Warren County TN Wrongful Death  David Randolph Smith

October 19, 2026
On 10/20/10 the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict obtained by David Randolph Smith & Associates for the widow of a Tennessee Army National Guard sergeant who died in 2000. The jury had awarded $7.2 million in the Tennessee wrongful death lawsuit against River Park Hospital of McMinnville. The Tennessee Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the verdict resulted in a total award, with interest, of $10.7 million. Warren County court officials said the multimillion-dollar judgment was the largest amount awarded by a jury in county history at the time of its award.A copy of the opinion is available here.
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Group B Strep Wrongful Death Settlement

October 19, 2026
Settlement in significant wrongful death case filed in Overton County, Tennessee in a mediation held in Nashville, Tennessee on July 25, 2005. The case involved the failure to treat and diagnose group b strep in a pregnant mother whose child was brain damaged and ultimately died from sepsis stemming from exposure to the group b strep during labor. The terms of the settlement are confidential.The firm is currently handling another group b strep medical malpractice case in state court in Tupelo, Mississippi.