Judge blocks cemetery owner's plan to ban concrete vaults

SAVANNAH -- A man who owns five Chatham County cemeteries is a "business predator" and will not be allowed to ban concrete vaults for burials, a judge has ruled.

Chatham County Chief Superior Court Judge Perry Brannen Jr. permanently barred cemetery owner Larry Nikola from enforcing the ban in Chatham County. Brannen called the ban on concrete vaults unreasonable and prohibited by law.

"In essence, Mr. Nikola is a business predator and has acted in bad faith," Brannen ruled in an order filed May 19. "He bought cemeteries in an effort to make a profit to the detriment of those he claims to serve."

Brannen ruled Nikola "decided to get rid of 99 percent of the vaults in Savannah so that he could sell his inferior vaults at an increased price against the majority of the vault-buying population.

"Mr. Nikola essentially affirmed that the only way to be buried in one of his cemeteries is to purchase a vault which is sold exclusively in this area by him.

"The court does not find that any of Mr. Nikola's actions were 'reasonable' as contemplated by the Georgia Legislature when they enacted" the Georgia Cemetery Act.

Attorney Owen Murphy represented the burial vault companies and funeral homes that filed suit against Nikola's cemetery group.

Murphy said the litigation "is about protecting the rights of families to make personal decisions regarding the burial of loved ones and about preserving the fair and free competition among community businesses."

The lawsuit - filed by DePue-Wilbert Vault Co., Reita Vault Co. and several local funeral homes - challenged the Savannah Cemetery Group Inc. edict that was scheduled to become effective Nov. 1.

The defendant cemetery group owns Forest Lawn, Hillcrest Abbey West, Magnolia, Westside Gardens and Gardens Hillcrest Abbey East cemeteries.

Nikola, who owns the cemeteries but was not a designated defendant in the lawsuit, wants to require steel or polymer vaults.

Testimony indicated "thousands" of pre-need contracts are on file in the five cemeteries, and many of them included the purchase of concrete burial vaults, Murphy said.

Brannen's order said half or more of the burials conducted by the funeral homes took place in the five cemeteries.

Attorney Alex Zipperer, who represented the defendants, said he would appeal the ruling on the issue of what the law means by "reasonable."

The Georgia Cemetery Act allows a cemetery owner to impose reasonable rules to control the materials used in a cemetery, he said.

On another issue, Zipperer took issue with Brannen's description of Nikola as a predator, calling it "unwarranted."

DePue-Wilbert and Harry Reita's Reita Vault Co. manufacture concrete vaults that account for 99 percent of burials in Chatham County.

At a meeting with a DePue official, Nikola was reported to have told DePue he was going to "put him out of business."

At an April 30 hearing, Nikola testified he purchased the properties to make a profit, and part of his plan was to use the steel-polymer vaults for which he was the only dealer.

The alternative products cost more than the concrete vaults. But Nikola said people who had already bought burial plots and demanded concrete vaults could sell their plots and relocate to another cemetery.

He said the alternative vaults were lighter and caused less damage to the cemetery properties when being transported.

But expert David Brugger testified that with proper planking on the ground, a truck carrying a concrete vault "would do less damage to the property than a man just walking on the ground," Brannen noted.

Brugger also testified that because concrete weighs more, it would stay buried in a high-water table such as Chatham County and not "pop up" out of the ground as the water table rises, Brannen said.

Based on Brugger's testimony, Brannen found that "a concrete vault is a much better choice."