The Memorial Society of British Columbia has filed suit against funeral service provider Service Corporation International Canada ULC (SCI), alleging that it hasn’t been paid its cut of funeral service fees under a contract.
According to its website, the Memorial Society is “a non-profit organization formed over 55 years ago to help its members to plan funerals that are simple, dignified and affordable.”
In a suit filed in B.C. Supreme Court April 23, the Memorial Society alleged that it signed a funeral services agreement in 1992 with First Memorial Services Ltd., which has since been amalgamated into SCI.
The plaintiff alleges that it agreed to provide its member list to First Memorial, so that the funeral home could market its services to Memorial Society members. Where First Memorial made a sale, the Memorial Society would eventually collect a cut or “records charge” – when the member died.
Under the contract, the statement of claim alleges, First Memorial would set aside the “records charge” at the time of the sale and hold it in trust until the death of the Memorial Society member.
“First Memorial remitted records charges to the plaintiff promptly after the death of the plaintiff’s members until the funeral services agreement expired on September 1, 2006,” the claim states.
However, the plaintiff alleges, First Memorial has since failed to remit records charges on deals that were signed with members during the time of the agreement, but where the members died after the agreement expired.
The Memorial Society is suing for:
- a declaration that the records charges collected by First Memorial prior to the expiry of the funeral services agreement are held in trust by the defendant for the plaintiff;
- an order tracing the trust funds;
- an order requiring the defendant to pay the plaintiff an amount equal to the records charges collected by First Memorial or SCI but not remitted to the plaintiff.
None of these allegations has been proven in court.
As of press time, no response to the civil claim had been filed.
