Local News in Brief : Mortuary Agrees to Pay $80,000 Penalty

A West Los Angeles funeral home agreed Thursday to pay more than $80,000 in civil penalties to settle a lawsuit accusing it of altering death certificates and forging physicians’ signatures.

The district attorney’s office filed the Superior Court action against Malinow & Silverman Mortuary Inc. after an employee, Paul Sanders Jr., told The Times last year that he had collected evidence of more than 100 instances in which death certificates were altered, sometimes with the physician’s signature forged.

Sanders, 25, of Panorama City said Malinow & Silverman employees made the changes to avoid delays in funeral services or additional expenses incurred when cases are reviewed by the coroner’s office, which automatically investigates certain deaths, such as those caused by traumatic injuries.

The mortuary, at 1500 S. Sepulveda Blvd., agreed to pay $80,041.36 in penalties without admitting any wrongdoing, said the firm’s attorney Don Smaltz.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Herscovitz said the funeral home’s shortcuts were “a matter of convenience. There was no evidence that it was done to cover up a crime.”