Cemetery owner to compensate interment rights holders more than $30,000

The Supreme Court has ordered the proprietors of a southern suburbs cemetery pay more than $30,000 in compensation to interment rights holders, bringing to an end a four-year dispute.

The new owners of a southern suburbs cemetery have been ordered to pay more than $30,000 in compensation to interment rights holders after the Supreme Court found the proprietors misled families and individuals into believing they needed to pay thousands of dollars or they would lose their burial plot.

The court has also determined that all remains interred at The Cemetery on the Hill in Old Noarlunga have a right to remain there.

The outcome brings to a close a four-year dispute, and provides certainty for family and friends of loved ones buried, orintending to be buried, at the cemetery.

The Far North Region has seen a surge in demand for alternative memorial options, including cremation walls and personalised tributes, as loved ones seek more unique ways to honour those who have passed. Picture: Emma Cam.

The Attorney-General’s Department launched Supreme Court proceedings against the proprietors of The Cemetery on the Hill, after the cemetery was sold and the new owners told families they must pay additional fees if they wanted their loved ones to remain buried there or if they wished to be laid to rest there in the future.

The Advertiser reported in January 2022 that the department’s lawsuit listed 11 people whose remains were buried at the cemetery as well as nine living people who had bought burial rights.

Among the specific cases reported at the time, the department alleged a woman was told she would need to pay an additional $24,000 – on top of her initial payment of $1000 – for the right to have her body interred in the cemetery for 25 years, plus an extra $2100 burial fee.

In another case, a couple – who had already paid $1090 in 2014 for 25 years of interment rights – received a letter in April 2021 with a partially-completed form advising them that because of landscaping works, they needed to repurchase their plot.

They were allegedly told the repurchase price would be $2500 if they paid before May 6 or $4750 if they paid afterwards. If they wanted to surrender their interment rights, they would have their initial $1090 reimbursed.

The department sought compensation for affected clients, and a declaration that all burial and interment rights remain unaffected by the sale of the cemetery.

The court found that The Old Noarlunga Cemetery Pty Ltd made several false and misleading representations to consumers about the need to pay extra fees, and that the company had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.

It said that by carrying out that conduct, and by allowing interment rights to be surrendered without repaying five consumers their full refund, the company had engaged in unconscionable conduct.

The company was ordered to pay more than $30,000 to affected people.

Originally published as Cemetery owner to compensate interment rights holders more than $30,000