NO SATISFACTION: David Robinson, whose father died in August, is one of several plaintiffs locked in a class action suit that claims a pre-paid burial contract was not honored by Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park. -- Photo By Amy O. Williams

When David Robinson's father died in August, the Robinson family thought the pain of losing a parent and a husband would be the only challenge they would face in the coming weeks.

But, as it turned out, the problems were only beginning.

Robinson's father, Charles F. Robinson, had bought a pre-need burial contract from Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park in 1974. The elder Robinson updated the two policies in the contract - for himself and his wife - and paid it in full in 1999.

"(My father) was quite proud of the fact that he had made all of his arrangements ahead of time," David said. "Then (after he died) we had to go and negotiate prices."

The best laid plans ...

David Robinson's story is one of many that have come to light in recent months since Forest Hill Funeral Home owner Clayton Smart claimed he did not have to honor the pre-paid policies. The reason given Charles Robinson's family by the business manager of Forest Hill was that Smart bought the funeral home from a bankrupt company, and therefore did not have to honor pre-need contracts.

A class action lawsuit was filed against Forest Hill in Shelby County Circuit Court in July and could eventually provide some sort of resolution for people like the Robinsons.

In addition to providing a solution for the people who bought the contracts, a class action suit could be a more
efficient way to achieve that resolution, said attorney Christopher Gilreath of Gilreath & Associates.

"Originally, class actions were designed to handle situations when a large group of people would come and file suits," Gilreath said.

An example of that type of case would be something like the Forest Hill suit, he said.

Courts always are dealing with limits on resources, he said. But in some cases, it may be better to put all the people filing suits into one group and handle it as one big case rather than administer justice one person at a time.

"The idea being that the less resources that have to be spent to get from point A to point C, and you free up other judges and other courts to handle those other cases, too, so the process of administering justice continues to roll as efficiently as possible," Gilreath said.

Corporate tactics in question

Gilreath currently is representing clients in a pending nationwide class action lawsuit against FedEx Ground System Inc. FedEx Corp is the parent company of FedEx Ground. The suit originated in California, and has plaintiffs in 29 states, including Tennessee. Gilreath represents six named plaintiffs from Tennessee in the class action suit.

The complaint claims that drivers who were under contract with FedEx Ground were classified as independent contractors and therefore deprived of benefits that would be owed regular employees. Some of the benefits identified in the complaint include overtime and holiday pay, workers' compensation and contributions to an employee retirement plan.

As independent contractors, however, the plaintiffs and class members were required to pay their own operating expenses, which included delivery truck purchase, maintenance and repairs - as much as $50,000 each in some cases. Gilreath estimates the class represents thousands of drivers who worked for FedEx Ground from 1999 to 2005.

The FedEx Ground case is currently in the discovery phase - the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party may request documents and other evidence from other parties.

An aggregate of voices

Gilreath said every class action starts out as an individual case, from the Forest Hill case in the Memphis area to the nationwide FedEx Ground suit.

The benefit for an individual who is not named as a plaintiff in the case but who is considered to be a member of the class is he or she doesn't have to take as much time away from work to participate in the case.

"They can be a member of the group without having to actively work the case," Gilreath said. "They can allow others to represent them."

The plaintiffs then represent the class as a whole, and they are the ones who attend hearings and give testimony. Plaintiffs and class members in class actions benefit financially from the arrangement because the cost to proceed with the case is much less than it would be for an individual because it is divided among the entire group. He said the class action lawsuit also benefits the plaintiffs and the class, because their complaints can carry more weight than if the suits were filed by individuals.

"The idea is like anything in our democracy - the more people you have speaking as one voice, the louder that voice becomes," Gilreath said.

For David Robinson and his family, having a loud voice that might be heard by the owner of Forest Hill may be the only thing that could help ease his pain.

His family, his mother and his two sisters paid an additional $2,000 to bury his father Aug. 22. Paying that extra money was not what upset the Robinson family the most.

"It's not the money," David said. "It's the principle. If it had been $200, they shouldn't have charged us anything."

David Robinson said the class action could send a message to business owners like Clayton Smart.

"If he gets away with (this), so will every other funeral home in the country," he said.

To read another recent story on class action lawsuits, see The Daily News' Sept. 6 lead story at www.memphisdailynews.com.