After two years of heartache and legal battles Burr Oak Cemetery victims on their way to receiving some semblance of justice even if what is gained does not completely erase the tragedy.
After two years of heartache and legal battles Burr Oak Cemetery victims on their way to receiving some semblance of justice even if what is gained does not completely erase the tragedy.
Family members who filed grievances against the Alsip burial ground are expected to receive financial compensation as part of a multimillion-dollar settlement plan approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Northern Illinois.
As part of the Burr Oak and Perpetua Inc. liquidation plan approved last year and confirmed this week, it is expected that $7.65 million will be for insurance. Around $2.6 million will be set aside for the restoration and maintenance of the cemetery and $2.3 million will be directed toward compensating those who have been victimized by the events at Burr Oak.
The outcome, however, was a mixed bag for Deidre Baumann, of Baumann & Shuldiner in Chicago, who represented many of the plaintiffs. Baumann is not entirely pleased with meager financial returns her clients garnered.
She feels that the limited settlement funds are not sufficient to both restore Burr Oak and provide a larger pool for properly compensating the 6,500 individual claimants.
“I have very mixed views about the process,” Baumann said. “We wanted to restore dignity. We wanted more compensation available. Hopefully this provides some peace of mind.”
For those who can demonstrate that they have suffered a special harm, such as disinterment, they will get reimbursed from a separate victims compensation fund totaling $1.8 million.
Burr Oak and Perpetua filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in 2009 when the initial lawsuits were filed against the owners after it was discovered cemetery employees dug up hundreds of graves and discarded bodies in mass graves for cash.
It was believed filing bankruptcy would decrease the chances of all the plaintiffs to garner a substantial claim.
Since then the parties involved had been focused on the process of restoring Burr Oak Cemetery as a fitting and proper resting place for graves and plots which were altered, preserving the memory of those who had been buried at the cemetery and preventing another tragedy from occurring at the facility, according to court documents.
Any funds not distributed to the claimants will be used for the restoration of Burr Oak. Baumann indicated there could be a memorial erected to honor many of the deceased whose graves and remains were unceremoniously disturbed and dismembered.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart approved of the settlement, according to court documents, as long as a specific portion of the cemetery would continue to be closed to new burials because Dart’s office deemed the area a crime scene.
A spokesperson for Dart’s office told the Defender that the sheriff had no further comment on the settlement. Instead, the spokesperson said, Dart’s office is now laser focused on the criminal case involving the four Burr Oak employees arrested and charged in the 2009 burial plot-for-resale scheme. The four pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
Brenda Martin, who buried her four-month-old daughter Katrina in the Babyland section of Burr Oak in 1975, told the Defender that no court ruling could ever change the fact her child’s grave was destroyed.
“You will never really forget what happened,” Martin said, who couldn’t even locate the whereabouts of her daughter’s grave after learning just last year about the unsettling events. That is supposed to be their final resting place. “It is not supposed to be anything else.”
Terri Smith Blanchard can relate to the plight of Martin and many families who have attempted to seek retribution over the years.
Smith Blanchard and her family won a lawsuit against Burr Oak four years ago after discovering another body was already buried in her mother’s grave.
“There was an unknown person in her grave,” she said. “How can something precious like a family plot be discarded? It has just been a very trying experience. I just want it to be over.”
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
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