Comment on Amended Illinois Funeral Lawsuit-yourfuneralguy

Six Funeral directors suing the IFDA filed an amended lawsuit on June 12th 2009

Here some commentary on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association amended lawsuit. This is the Lawsuit known as  Calvert et al. The Comments below are those of MarsellusM710. They are not those of your funeral guy.

Dear Funeral Guy and Funeral Service Friends,

My,my, my……Juicy reading as of late.  Thanks Funeral Guy for keeping right on top of things.  Sounds like the depositions from the Derivative Lawsuit are bearing true fruit.  For those of you who haven’t read the Amended Complaint files 6/12/09, it is a must read.

I believe we are starting to hear the rafters creaking at Suite 15-500 of the Thompson Bldg. in the Windy City. (Hynes’ HQ for the Cemetery Care and Burial Trust Div.)  The roof is about to cave in.  Dan, Peggy, and Percy are all starting to squirm.  Political / Bureaucratic careers coming to an end, soon???

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association has mishandled almost 100 million of folks funeral mioney in the State of Illinois,

I love the quote where it states that “when the Comptroller’s office, but not the funeral directors, knew of the budding deficit was “pennies on the dollar”, as if that excused (the Comptroller) from doing anything about it.“  As I have stated several times before, had anyone of us out here in Illinois been off “pennies on the dollar” on our Trust reports,  they would have unmercifully pounced on and made examples of us.

The best one yet is the discovery of the cover up of our own IFDA Board and It’s Executive Director at the time.  This has got to be the death knell for these guys.  “IFDA …EXPLICITLY.. requested complete and confidentiality of the purported audit, preliminary report, discussions, reports and ultimate findings issued by (the Comptroller’s office),” the plaintiffs say.

“OF UTMOST CONCERN TO THE  IFDA WAS SHIELDING THIS INFORMATION FROM THE PUBLIC AND, THUS, ITS MEMBERS AND CONSUMERS ACROSS ILLINOIS, TO AVOID ANY NEGATIVE IMPACT SUCH EXPOSURE MIGHT HAVE. ( OMG!!! )  IFDA EVEN WENT AS FAR AS TO REQUEST THAT ALL AUDIT-RELATED  MATERIALS BE PROTECTED FROM OTHERWISE LAWFUL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS.” This reads like it came out of Washington DC not Springfield, IL.

LEADERS OF THE IFDA BETRAYED THE TRUST OF THEIR MEMBERS

Our very own people lying to us, hiding critical information that has proven to be detrimental to the livelihoods of their own colleagues. I‘ve been telling you this Board of people serving during this period of time and years prior, had become their own “SECRET SOCIETY,” and the secrets are now being revealed, as predicted.

I would hope striping of licensure and some serious jail time and fine$ are in store for this unconscionable deed.

I would now like to address again the dismissal of one CHARLES  CHILDS  Jr. from the IDFPR, FD&Emb. Licensing and Disciplinary Board, as he would have been sitting on the Board or, on the Executive Board at the time the “Hush Order” was being requested.  What a betrayal of your so called “colleagues”.

A round of applause to Mr. Bruce Rushton of the Springfield State-Journal Register for a great story.

Regards,
MarsellusM710

Funeral Industry Funeral Blog by Your Funeral guy

Over 100 Funeral Directors meet in Illinois Funeral Mess-YourFuneralGuy

Jeff Dames one of the six funeral directors in a lawsuit against the IFDA has taken some leadership in opposing the The STATE OF ILLINOIS $18 mil SETTLEMENT WITH MERRILL LYNCH in IFDA Funeral Director Mess.

Over 100 Funeral Directors have met in opposition to  a State  Settlement  in the Illinois Funeral Directors Pre need Scandal Mess. It all involves a State Settlement With Merrill Lynch  for $18 million. Funeral Directors say that 18 Million is not enough to cover their losses.

It was not revealed if this meeting was a precursor to a new funeral association in the State of Illinois. The six funeral directors suing the IFDA have a website with what appears to be a logo.

“Their Organization is called THE IFSA

I have it on authority that these folks are E-mailing IFDA members around the State. I received an E- Mail from the Six Funeral directors above.”-Quote from previous post on this blog.

Whether the IFSA is an organization reffering to the six Funeral Directors themselves is not clear. As suggested here in a post, IFSA may be the Start of  a new IFDA.  “Six Suing ILLINOIS Funeral Directors Start Own Trade Association?” (this post has been updated.)

What is clear is that the six mentioned funeral directors  got over 1oo Funeral Directors and their Lawyers to meet at the Crown Plaza Hotel on Wednesday, June, 4th.2009.

Springfield, IL where Illinois Funeral Scandal began and continues.

According to the State Journal Register in Springfield Illinois in a June 5th 2009 inprint article:

“More than 100 funeral directors gathered Thursday in Springfield to challenge an $18 million settlement reached between the Illinois Division of Insurance and Merrill Lynch.

The amount is a fraction of what undertakers say they’ve lost due to poor investments made with money paid into a pre-need funeral trust fund that has tanked……

Afterward, funeral directors met at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and vowed to fight the provision that requires them to release Merrill Lynch from liability in order to collect their shares of the settlement – the largest settlement of an insurance case in Illinois history.

“Do you stand on your principles or do you take the money?” asked Jeff Dames, whose family owns funeral homes in Joliet and Morris. “We’re going to hold their feet to the fire, and we’re gong to make them accountable.”

According to the State Journal Register Jeff Dames and Fred C. Dames Funeral Homes have taken leadership in

Funeral Directors are very angry with the Regulators in the State of Illinois aboutt an $18 Mil Settlement with Merrill Lynch

opposition to the $18 Mil. Agreement  between State Regulators and Merrill Lynch.

“Dames and other funeral directors blame state regulators as much as Merrill Lynch for the financial mess, which festered for years before the state took action.

“The laws that are in place should have protected us,” Dames said”

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by YourFuneralGuy

THIS POST IS RELEVANT TO THE ILLINOIS FUNERAL CONSUMER BECAUSE FUNERAL DIRECTORS IN THIS STATE LOST NEAR 100 Million in this Preneed Scandal.

IN MOST CASES FUNERAL DIRECTORS MAKE UP LOSSES BY RAISING PRICES.

Illinois Funeral Lawsuit to be Amended-YourFuneralGuy

Illinois Funeral Directors lawsuit to be amended.

The Six Funeral Director’s Lawsuit Calvert Funeral homes  “COMPLAINT” is expected to be amended on May 30th 2009. There is suppose to be to have a Status hearing on July 7th 2009.

On those those dates we will find out more on the depositions in the lawsuits, the effect of the settlement with Merrill Lynch and Regulators, and legislative proposals and the lawsuit.

The significance of all this in 2009 is that there will not be a resolution to the IFDA ponzi Scheme Scandal Soon. Sadly there will be no “NEW IFDA” in 2009 as some claim is about to happen on July 1st 2009.

The National Funeral Directors Association continues to  so stand behind the controversial  Executive Secretary Randall L Earl who is deeply involved in this Scandal.

Losses in the IFDA Trust  will continue to  have funeral costs rise in Illinois due to this deficit.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Cost Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Source:

Wexler Wallace Website for

“Wexler Wallace filed Plaintiffs’ Derivative Complaint on January 28, 2009.  The case is set to have a status hearing on July 7, 2009.  An Amended Complaint will be filed by May 30, 2009″

Funeral Mess in Illinois:Funeral Home Owner Speaks-yourfuneralguy

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association has been ordered to pay back 10 million to a funeral preneed trust fund.

Here is  a response  received from a funeral home owner  in Illinois to

Pay back 10 million: Order in Illinois Funeral Scandal-YourFuneralGuy.

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association may have a funeral because of a pre need funeral scam of 59 plus mil dollars..The Comptroller of the State of Illinois  ordered  the IFDA to pay back 10 million dollars.

Funeral Guy and Friends,

Detrimental news for IFDA. Where oh where will they come up with that kind of cash? Since none of us out here in IFDA that are Members have no idea of what the financial assets of IFDA are, this could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. But maybe the “boys” have a little stash that we don’t know about. You know, a little bonus money from the trust earnings via the Taxable Trust side of the portfolio.

The real question I have for Mr. Hynes is why his office DID NOT take immediate action to shut the trust down in 2002 when they saw the $10 mil. deficit? And then allowing it to “hemorrhage” to $59 mil. (and accounts continue to do so as we speak, both tax exempt and the taxable trust were told was “safe”).

Folks reading the names of our illustrious past presidents need to understand that the “keyman” policies sold / purchased by Mr Schainker during the 1990’s, these gents would have been seated on the board as regional directors / officers at some point during that time.

Quite frankly, I’m becoming quite sick of seeing the Comptroller grandstanding on the issue with new consumer protection laws being steamrolled through the IL legislature when the the IL Funeral and Burial Funds Act needs a line by line overhaul.

Funeral Directors in the State have been angered at losses in Illinois Funeral Mess because it has had a negative effect on their bottom line.

Never mind what we didn’t do, Lets do something to appease the consumer advocacy folks and win voter confidence for the next round of elections. you gotta love it! You will find no argument from me that the “Act” needs updating, however an absolute catastrophe had to happen before anything was done.

For those of you reading this, the Comptroller wants ALL monies placed with a third party or independent trustee. In IL we get to manage up to $500,000.00 under a trustee license via the Comptrollers’ Office.

That is how the IFDA Trust got to grow to the size it did, because of the “cap”. The problem with this scenario is this. The monies at IFDA Services, Inc., better known as and presumably known to be an Independent Trustee albeit not properly licensed as we came to find out, did injury to the monies it was entrusted with. Those funds managed by us F.D.’s under our Trustee license with monies deposited in local banks went undamaged and held safely, BUT we will lose that right under changes being made to the “Act”.

Here is a suggestion for Mr. Hynes on what should be done with the $10 mil IF he gets if from IFDA. Disperse it to the F.H.’s that incurred damage from the writedowns on funerals that have been performed since last September. That would relieve some of the pain that has been inflicted and absorbed by the F.H.’s. Then by the time the Calvert group gets done with the lawsuit that hopefully will be settled favorable to the funeral trust holders.

The next board of IFDA due to be seated and sworn in next month just might be in charge of making funeral arrangements for our once great association. I’m not sure at this point she can be saved. Arrangements pending?

A tip of the hat to the IFDA Staff for hanging in there during trying times and being assaulted / insulted with all sorts of vulgarity. No quitters that I’m aware of.

I think I’ll place my chips on a FEDERAL GRAND JURY indictment on several players to clear bring the full truth out on this whole mess. Lips are tight when I ask about a FGJ, but nobody denies it either.

Funeral Industry|Funeral CostBlog by Your Funeral Guy.

Opinions in this post are those of marsellusm710.

This post contains opinions that are not from your funeral guy. Your Funeral Guy has no connection to marsellusm710.