Springfield monument company faces lawsuit

The lawsuit was filed among six other cases against monument and pre-need funeral companies statewide, also filed by Nixon. The initiative, titled Operation Grave Concerns, involve about 500 Missourians who paid more than $800,000 for services.

Nixon says an investigation into the companies showed customers’ payments were not put into specific trust accounts and were diverted for other uses.

The lawsuit against Thomas R. Smith of Heartland Monuments, 1005 W. College, alleges the company collected funds from families for the purchase of headstones but failed to deliver the monuments as promised.

The Heartland case involves fewer than 10 people, but “it was significant enough to get our attention,” said Jim Gardner, press secretary for Nixon’s office.

The lawsuit asks the company to pay 10 percent of the restitution awarded and $1,000 per violation to Greene County.

Pre-need funeral services have been a $1.6 billion industry in Missouri in the last 20 years, Nixon said in a news release.