Case Over Disputed Grave Sites Can Move Forward, Judge Rules

In a contentious Jan. 10 hearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court, attorneys for Service Corporation International, the funeral industry giant whose local affiliate, Skyline Memorial Gardens, sold the same burial plot to two different families, sought to have attorneys for the second buyer, Paula Tin Nyo, sanctioned and removed from the case.

Service Corporation’s attorneys accused Tin Nyo’s attorneys at the Tonkon Torp law firm of acting in bad faith and violating a confidentiality order by revealing the identity of the first purchasers of the disputed plot.

Judge Christopher Ramras ruled that the Tonkon Torp lawyers did not in fact violate a court order and had done nothing improper in communicating with WW about the case.

“I don’t find the defendant’s counsel violated my order,” Ramras said. “So I am not ordering any sanctions.”

The other party seeking rights to the burial plot is the Reser family, heirs to a Corvallis deli-salad fortune. Following Ramras’ earlier determination that the Reser family could not participate in the case under a pseudonym, that family is now officially a plaintiff in the case.

The parties will now move forward in determining how to resolve a dispute over who has a right to the burial site—the Resers, who purchased it in 2019, or Tin Nyo, who bought it in 2021 and buried her son’s remains and personal effects there that year.

They are scheduled to set a trial date Jan. 22.

This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon. OJP seeks to inform, engage, and empower Oregonians with investigative and watchdog reporting that makes a significant impact at the state and local levels. Its stories appear in partner newspapers across the state. Learn more at oregonjournalismproject.org.