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{{judicialupdate}}{{tnr}}
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#
REDIRECT
[[Funeral home
receives
injunction from
judge
]]
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===[[c2012
#
June|June 11, 2012]]===
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'''Charleston,
[[
West Virginia]]:''' The [[West Virginia]] Attorney General's Office has been investigating the Elk
Funeral
Home and its owner Billy Surratt.<ref name="elk">[http://www.dailymail.com/News/201206060312 ''Charleston Daily Mail''-Judge grants injunction against funeral
home
-June 7, 2012]</ref>
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[[Kanawha County, West Virginia|Kanawha]] [[Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, West Virginia|Circuit]] Judge [[Paul Zakaib, Jr.|Paul Zakaib]] issued a preliminary
injunction
against the funeral home, which has allegedly sold at the very least $77,000 of pre-need contracts and then went on to improperly handle those funds. The preliminary injunction stops the Elk Funeral Home
from
selling more pre-need contracts for funeral services at this time.<ref name="elk"/>
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However, the [[West Virginia]] Attorney General's Office hopes to get a permanent injunction against the funeral home so that it may never sell pre-need contracts again and that full refunds will be made available for the victims of this case in a very timely fashion.<ref name="elk"/>
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"This isn't a case of 'oops.' Once you steal people's money, you give up the privilege of selling pre-need contracts," said attorney Chris Hedges, who is handling the investigation.<ref name="elk"/>
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According to investigators, Surratt broke state laws by failing to report sales of the pre-need contracts to the Attorney General's Office, as well as failing to report how those fund were held. A lot of the money was spent on unauthorized expenses and other funds cannot be accounted for. It is state law for 90% of the pre-need contract payments to be held in trust until funeral services are required.<ref name="elk"/>
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The victims of Surratt's wrong-doings were contacted by investigators after going through Surratt's books.<ref name="elk"/>
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Incentives have been put in place for Surratt to agree to refunds quickly. If he does not, waiting for a jury to decide the outcome could increase his liability for the crime.<ref name="elk"/>
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The hearing on [[c2012#June|June 6, 2012]] attracted a lot of victims who were willing to testify, but an agreement was finally reached between the two parties, as to the terms of the preliminary injunction that is now in place.<ref name="elk"/>
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==See also==
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* [[West Virginia judicial news]]
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==References==
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{{reflist}}
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{{State news}}
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{{West Virginia}}
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[[Category:June 2012]]
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[[category:West Virginia 2012 news]]
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[[Category:State court lawsuit news
]]
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