News in Brief

Harrisburg – Carolyn Sims of Dauphin County was still reeling from the sudden death of her 55-year-old husband, Thomas, when she was contacted by R & J Monuments Inc.

The owner of the company offered his condolences – and an unbeatable bargain on a grave marker for her husband, who had suffered a heart attack.

Sims ordered a $2,400 headstone in November 1999 and paid $500 in advance. And though her husband is long since buried, she says she is still waiting for the marker.

Sims is one of 50 consumers from 15 counties in Pennsylvania who the state says were defrauded by the Lancaster County monument supplier.

Attorney General Mike Fisher announced a lawsuit against the company, citing violations of state consumer protection laws. The suit seeks full restitution for customers and civil penalties of up to $3,000 per violation for the state.

The company’s owner last week denied bilking customers.

‘It appears the attorney general has made numerous statements that are incorrect and/or taken out of context,’ said Richard Groom II, who is listed as a defendant in the complaint along with Janet Henry-Groom.

‘We will be filing our response to their allegations in due course. We deny any wrongdoing, and all other comments at this time would be premature,’ he said. The company remains open for business, Groom said.

Fisher, however, called the company’s practices ‘heartless.’ He said the errors went beyond ‘just having trouble making a few deliveries. …The victims in this case had just lost a loved one and were grief stricken and vulnerable. That’s what makes these allegations particularly egregious.’

The 17-page complaint filed in Commonwealth Court accuses the company of taking advantage of Pennsylvanians by offering prices for monuments ‘guaranteed’ to be at least 20 percent lower than those of competitors. If not, the company said, customers would get their monument for free.

After taking the customer’s money, the Grooms would give specific delivery or installation dates that were not honored, Fisher said.

When customers complained to them, the Grooms gave excuses for the delays ranging from bad weather to having personal health problems. In other cases, they claimed delays were caused by their suppliers, Fisher said.

In other instances, gravestones delivered by the company were marked improperly, the complaint said.

Such was the case with the Knaub family, who paid for a stone with a five-line epitaph for a deceased relative, and got only the first line: ‘Beloved Son & Brother.’

Candidate Nominated for Northampton Bench

Easton – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge last week nominated the only registered Republican judicial candidate to fill a vacancy on the Northampton County bench.

But the nomination may not mean Edward G. Smith, of Plainfield Township, will get the advantage of being a sitting judge before the May 15 primary.

Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh, said she would lobby her Democratic colleagues to oppose the nomination.

The nomination must undergo the scrutiny of the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee, of which Boscola is a member, and win two-thirds confirmation by the full Senate.

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