Insurance Company Wins Case Against Putnam Funeral Home

A federal judge has ruled for an insurance company in its case against the operators of a Putnam County funeral home accused of filing false death claims on behalf of pre-need contract customers who weren’t actually dead. The Gazette-Mail reports Homesteaders Life Insurance Company was granted default judgment in its lawsuit against Poca-based Gatens-Harding Funeral Home owners Chad and Billie Harding. The lawsuit said that the Hardings cashed in on over $1 million worth of pre-need funeral contracts for 111 people who were still alive during an eight-year period. The Hardings denied the allegations in a filing last year by their attorney Jeff Woods. The judge cited a “complete lack of interest in defending” the case. The amount the Hardings will be ordered to pay Homesteaders hasn’t yet been determined.