Body-donation suit nets $58 million

PHOENIX — A civil jury Tuesday awarded $58 million to 10 people who accused a now-closed body donation facility of mishandling the donated remains of their relatives and deceiving them about how the body parts would be used.

The trial against Stephen Gore, owner of Biological Resource Center of Arizona, ended with jurors finding in favor of 10 of 21 plaintiffs, awarding $8 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages.

An attorney for donor families said he believes jurors did not rule in favor of 11 other plaintiffs because they didn’t testify.

Gore’s business was accused of fraud by claiming the donated bodies would be used for medical research, when it knew some of the remains would be sold for military testing, such as crashes and explosions.

Donor families also said they were promised the cremated remains of relatives and received boxes with what they thought were their loved ones, only to later discover the bodies were sold to third parties or were still at the facility.

The families contended they were weren’t told the bodies would be used in ways they would not have approved. Jurors were shown the business’ price list, showing, for instance, that a torso without a head sold for $4,000.

Gore’s business was raided in January 2014 by FBI agents wearing hazardous-material suits and breathing through respirators. Gore pleaded guilty in October 2015 to a felony charge for his role in mishandling the donated parts.

Timothy O’Connor, an attorney for Gore, declined to comment on the verdict.