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Beverly Hills doctor settles suit over shortfall of late wife’s ashes
LA County Jun 01, 2022
| Photo courtesy of Glen Scarborough/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who sued a crematorium, alleging they along with a mortuary reneged on a promise to give him half of his late wife’s ashes after she died of stomach cancer in 2019, has reached a tentative settlement in the remaining part of his case less than a three weeks before trial was scheduled.
On Tuesday, lawyers for Dr. Alexander Sinclair filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Timothy Patrick Dillon stating that the part of the plaintiff’s case against Evergreen Cemetery and Crematory was conditionally resolved. The trial was scheduled to begin on June 20.
Sinclair earlier had reached an accord with Kubota Mortuary. No terms were revealed in either settlement.
The suit filed in December 2019 alleged breach of contract, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In his court papers, Evergreen Cemetery lawyer Abraham K. Apraku maintained that Kubota Mortuary was solely responsible for splitting the ashes and that Sinclair was not entitled to the woman’s remains because he was not her legal spouse.
Sinclair and his late wife, Kyoko Yonezawa, lived together for many years before marrying in October 2016, according to the suit, which says a second wedding in October 2017 was a reaffirmation of their vows after Yonezawa became ill with stage IV stomach cancer.
Yonezawa’s parents, Seiji and Yoriko Yonezawa, did not condone their daughter’s marriage, but were “not shy about taking all they could from Dr. Sinclair and using Dr. Sinclair’s good character and reputation and vast resources to their personal and business advantage,” the suit alleged.
Sinclair financially supported the elder Yonezawas, housed them in his home for prolonged periods of time, provided them with food and shelter, gave them money, and permitted them to conduct business at his home, the suit states.
Yonezawa died in April 2019, “leaving Dr. Sinclair in great despair,” according to his court papers, which stated he paid the mortuary and crematorium nearly $7,800 for a 50-50 split of her ashes to be shared between himself and her parents.
After Yonezawa’s body was cremated, Sinclair received two small urns with his wife’s ashes. However, based on the miniature size and weight of the urns, Sinclair realized he had not been given half of his wife’s ashes as he had been promised, the suit alleged.
“In fact, defendants provided Dr. Sinclair with a total of approximately two ounces of the remains, which amounted to less than 10% of the total ashes,” the suit alleged.
Sinclair suffered emotional distress because of the alleged misconduct of the mortuary and crematorium, according to his court papers.
“Not only did Dr. Sinclair lose the love of his life much earlier than the two had ever expected, but he has also now been cheated and deprived by defendants of significant remains of Kyoko,” the suit alleged.
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