GALVESTON - Arguing that a Spring woman's lawsuit against it is "frivolous," a local funeral home has provided an original answer.
Carnes Funeral Home Inc. insists Rose Woods-Brown's original petition was filed "in bad faith or for the purpose of harassment," recent court documents filed Aug. 5 in Galveston County Court at Law No. 2 state.
As previously reported, Woods-Brown sued Carnes in the same court July 13 after the funeral home reportedly ignored her instructions regarding her father's ashes.
The plaintiff claims the respondent turned the cremated remains of her father, Spencer Woods, over to one of her siblings though it knew it was not supposed to, asserting the act to be a violation of an agreement between the two parties.
Her suit states the decedent placed the complainant in charge of the disposition of his body prior to his death last Feb. 3.
The funeral home and the complainant agreed to the latter controlling all business aspects in connection with her father's final wishes, the original petition says.
Woods-Brown went to retrieve the ashes after going out of town only to discover that Carnes allegedly entrusted them and the death certificates to her sister without her authorization.
The suit faults the defendant for failing to return or even locate the remains.
Carnes asserts that Woods-Brown "has not been damaged in any manner whatsoever by (its) conduct."
"The plaintiff has no evidence of any of the allegations contained within her petition," the counterclaim says.
Cokinos, Bosien & Young is representing the defendant.
Cause No. 65,636