The Daily Toreador - Student Newspaper of Texas Tech

Not being able to locate someone when one needs them is common, but not being able to locate a dead relative when one already has held their funeral is not.

Unfortunately, this is an issue the city of Lubbock Cemetery is facing.

A lawsuit has been filed against the cemetery by Connie Sanders, an Amarillo resident, who said the grave marker indicating her daughter's burial site has been moved.

Chris Carver, one of Sanders' attorneys, said the lawsuit is claiming Sanders and her family purchased a burial plot in the early 1970s to bury their infant daughter, and now the grave marker has disappeared.

"The daughter was buried in an area of the cemetery called Baby Land," he said. "Connie Sanders moved away and later heard there was a problem at the cemetery, because of a prior lawsuit."

Carver said when Sanders returned to Lubbock to visit the burial site, the marker had been removed. He said the only information the city of Lubbock has been able to provide is a note card-like filing system that acknowledges Sanders' daughter was buried somewhere in the cemetery, though there is no physical proof.

"There was a funeral and a grave marker, but without city records, there is no way to tell where the burial actually was," he said. "At this point when you look at the Baby Land area of the cemetery, you can see four headstones and nothing else is visible."

Carver said his law firm has been contacted by other families whose loved ones were buried in the cemetery, but not yet been contacted by anyone else regarding Baby Land.

Jeff Hartsell, an assistant city attorney representing the City of Lubbock Cemetery, said at this point the lawsuit filed by Sanders has not been answered, but he and the other attorneys will be filing an answer within the 20-day time limit.

"We haven't filed an answer yet," he said. "It is way too early to tell if the suit will go to trial."

Hartsell said if the case were to go to trial, the lawsuit requests a jury trial, as opposed to a sole judge.

He said the previous lawsuit had six plaintiffs and was filed last summer.

"The lawsuit filed in the summer is still ongoing," he said. "We are going to vigorously defend this lawsuit, as well."

Carver said Sanders tried to work with the City of Lubbock for several months, and after receiving no information, her last available option was filing a lawsuit.

"She was never contacted about the change," he said. "She came back and went to the cemetery and had no idea what happened."

Quincy White, the assistant city manager of Lubbock, said he has been overseeing the City of Lubbock Cemetery for approximately six months and said the problem of losing gravesites has not been too common since he began working.

"It hasn't been too common since I took over," he said. "Most families are very appreciative of our services."

White said the cemetery sells plots and collaborates with local funeral homes to identify plot spaces and make arrangements to open and close the gravesites at the time of funerals.

"We have over 400 funerals a year," he said, but declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Carver said Sanders is filing for monetary compensation because there is no other relief that can be given by the city at this point. He said the Sanders family can only ask try to seek damages for the suffering they have experienced.

"Ms. Sanders did not immediately think to file a suit against the city. She has been working with the city for months now to try to find an amiable solution," he said. "She has been left with no other choice. It has been a last option for her."

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