Cleveland funeral home owner files formal complaint against two cemeteries

A Cleveland funeral home owner has filed a formal complaint with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance over conditions and business practices at Sunset Memorial Gardens and Hillcrest Memorial Gardens.

Ralph Buckner, Jr. filed the complaint with the state’s Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers and Burial Services on August 20.

Buckner is asking state officials to investigate several allegations involving the two Cleveland cemeteries.

His complaint alleges poor maintenance of cemetery grounds, including overgrown grass and damaged or neglected markers.

Buckner also raises concerns about conditions inside an enclosed mausoleum where his daughter and both of his parents are entombed. He alleges the building does not have functioning air conditioning or adequate climate control and says there has been an ongoing odor inside.

Buckner says the marker outside his daughter’s crypt has been damaged and lying on the ground since at least December of last year, despite several requests to have it repaired.

The complaint also questions a cemetery policy that Buckner says prevents families from holding committal services at the actual gravesite. He says families instead have services under a tent at another location on cemetery grounds and alleges that the policy is not always clearly disclosed in advance.

Buckner is also asking the state to investigate a dispute over opening and closing fees for a burial lot he owned at Sunset Memorial Gardens. He alleges the deed showed those costs had already been paid, but the cemetery later sought an additional payment of approximately $3,970.