Contributors to burial fund asked to call attorney

One of the five attorneys appointed to represent the interests of various parties associated with a burial fund is searching for contributors to the fund.
Laura McJimsey Randall has requested the placement of an advertisement in The Daily Review and Banner-Tribune asking to be contacted by anyone with information on contributors to the fund set up to cover the burial expenses at Jones Funeral Home of several family members killed in a Feb. 15 accident on U.S. 90, near Centerville.
Randall can be contacted by calling 985-395-9247.
Firm paralegal Cynthia Fleming said the notice will be placed in at least three other newspapers in New Iberia, Lafayette and Terrebonne.
There is $16,837 left over in the fund, according to 16th Judicial District Court documents filed June 9.
The fund was set up to cover all the expenses associated with the funeral and burial of LaDonna Cheatham, 36, of Patterson, along with her children, Destiny Cheatham, 6, and Marcus Cheatham, 16, and her nephew, Dewayne Escort, 14.
Oscar West of Patterson and a Houma church minister, said at least 200, and probably many more, people from St. Mary Parish contributed to the fund that raised $55,061.66.
Berwick attorney Allen McElroy represents the funeral home. He said with the June 9 filing of concursus proceedings, responsibility for the fund was taken from his client and the money was deposited with the court. It will be left up to the court to determine what is done with the remainder of the fund at a date that has not been set, he said.
Concursus proceedings are for when two or more persons have competing claims to money and must state their claims.
McElroy explained that the court has a list of attorneys who have indicated a willingness to be appointed in curatorship-type proceedings and those attorneys are selected in order of their names on the list. Randall, of the Morgan City legal firm Ramsey, Skiles & Streva, and the other four attorneys were appointed by District Judge Vincent Borne from that list, he said.
State police said the victims were killed when a tire failure caused the vehicle LaDonna Cheatham was driving to cross the median and strike head-on a Lafayette Parish school bus carrying 30 students and five adults with the Lafayette High School baseball team.
Students and others associated with Lafayette High School contributed more than $21,000 to the fund, West said. Contributors from Lafayette raised about 40 percent of the total fund
Lafayette High Principal Patrick J. Leonard said many of the students on the bus were injured and some are still getting treatment for their injuries.
“The first word we got was that everybody from our school was OK,” Leonard said. “It wasn’t until later that we learned how serious some of the injuries were.”
One of the adults had a broken back, several students had concussions, one of the students has had facial surgeries and some continue to receive mental counseling, Leonard said. Many of the Lafayette victims have not had all of their expenses covered by insurance, he said.
Students at the high school raised more than $11,000 the first day the fund was announced, Leonard said. Several hundred, perhaps as many as 2,000 people from Lafayette contributed to the fund because their hearts were touched and they wanted to help the victims’ family bury their loved ones, he said.
Donations were sent to the high school, some were sent to Lafayette Daily Advertiser and some donated directly to Whitney Bank, Leonard said.
“I will call today and try to get information on what needs to be done” to give voice for those that contributed from Lafayette, he said.
The balance of funds has been “placed into the registry of the court for proper disbursement in accordance with orders of this court,” states the concursus petition.
Costs associated with concursus proceedings are to be deducted from the funds deposited with the court, according to the filing which also states compensation to the attorneys will be set at the conclusion of the case.
McElroy said placing the leftover funds in the court registry and the petition for concursus is necessary to relieve his client of the responsibility of disbursing the money.
“This is the proper, legal way to handle this issue and it gives my client protection” from possible future claims others may bring regarding the money, McElroy said.
West said he originally thought a trust fund could be set up for Mark Cheatham, the sole survivor of the vehicle that hit the bus. He said a donation to Tri-City Helping Hearts Foundation which helps local needy families with burial expenses might also be an appropriate way to disburse the money.
Escort’s mother, Angela Daniel, said the family is “very appreciative and grateful … the community came together without us ever asking them to do anything.”
Daniel said she has two surviving children and one of Cheatham’s four surviving children now lives with her. She thought some sort of trust fund could be set up for the six siblings of the children that died, perhaps for scholarships.
Other attorneys appointed for the concursus proceedings were:
—Michael Aloise Jr. administrator for the succession of Markus Cheatham.
—Ed Jones administrator for the succession of LaDonna Cheatham.
—Colleen Whitney Hunter administrator for the succession of Destiny Cheatham.
—Margaret E. Judice administrator for the succession of Dewayne Escort.
Editor’s note: The court documents spell the family name as Cheatam, while school records and the obituaries spell the name Cheatham.