Life Insurance Company Tries for Settlement with Poca Funeral Home

A life insurance company is asking a judge to order a Poca funeral home to pay about $3 million after cashing in on funeral contracts for people who weren’t dead. The Gazette-Mail reports that Homesteaders Life Insurance Company was granted default judgment in June in its lawsuit against Gatens-Harding Funeral Home. The lawsuit accused Chad and Billie Harding of selling and cashing in on over $1 million in funeral contracts for 111 people who weren’t dead. Jeff Woods, the Hardings’ lawyer, says the Hardings do not object to the default judgment. The insurance company is now asking U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Chambers to order the funeral home to pay $2.7 million for reimbursement of damages. Chambers must approve the amount the Hardings are required to pay.