Missouri Woman Hurt by Falling Tombstone Loses Lawsuit

A woman who was injured when her son’s gravestone fell on her at a Joplin, Mo., cemetery has lost her lawsuit.

The Joplin Globe reports that a part of the monument that weighed 450 pounds toppled off its base on Memorial Day weekend in 2007. Sandra Pennington sued the city and the Brewer-England Monument Co., which sold her the gravestone.

Pennington testified this past week in Jasper County Circuit Court that she has been plagued with recurring pain.

Her attorneys argued that the monument business didn’t properly set the stones and that the city-operated Forest Park Cemetery didn’t properly maintain the grave.

A cemetery supervisor testified that the city’s responsibility was limited to mowing and general upkeep of the cemetery. The stone-setter testified that Pennington was pleased with the gravestone.