Suit Cites Forest Lawn’s Treatment of Disabled

GLENDALE —  Attacking what she called “inflexible” policies, the widow of a disabled activist filed suit against Forest Lawn Mortuary on Friday, alleging wheelchair-bound guests were not accommodated at her husband’s memorial service.

Judy L. Klein of Glendale filed suit against “the mortuary’s careless attitude toward the disabled.”

An official said the mortuary “is unaware of Mrs. Klein’s claim.”

“This is the first we have heard of the lawsuit being filed and cannot comment on allegations we have not seen,” said Vice President for Communications Paula Graber. “We always regret any situation when our client families are inconvenienced.”

Klein said she was forced to move the 150-guest service from the Little Church of the Flowers last Nov. 19 after Forest Lawn failed to provide wheelchair access and special equipment for a disabled speaker.

In addition, she said, Forest Lawn inexplicably moved up the time of the memorial service from 11 a.m. to 9 a.m. days before the date it was scheduled, inconveniencing her guests.

Tom Klein, a polio sufferer who was confined to a wheelchair the past 44 years, died Nov. 3, 1996. He campaigned for the disabled throughout much of his life. One of his proudest accomplishments, Klein said, was helping to win passage for the 1992 federal Americans with Disabilities Act requiring equal access for the disabled in public accommodations.

Now, the widow is evoking that law hoping it will cause a change of heart at Forest Lawn.

“She had been told by many other businesses that their facilities were accessible to the disabled only to discover later they were unable to use them,” said Klein’s attorney Gus T. May. Their attitude was, “too bad, the rules are the rules,” May said.