Families file lawsuit in UCLA cadaver case
 |  Henry Reid, the director of UCLA's Willed Body Program, was arrested Saturday. |
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Anyone concerned that parts of a family member's donated body were sold should contact UCLA by phone at 866-317-6374 or by email at access@mednet.ucla.edu.
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BEVERLY HILLS, California (CNN) -- Accusing UCLA officials of selling body parts for profit and improperly disposing of human remains, relatives of several cadaver donors Monday filed a class action lawsuit against the school.
Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the suit alleges that Henry Reid, the director of UCLA's Willed Body Program, has been illegally selling bodies and parts with the will and knowledge of other UCLA officials, turning the donations into illicit profit.
The latest developments came during an expanding investigation into the case, which has already resulted in the arrest of Reid and another man. Police say more arrests are possible.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs on Tuesday will ask a judge to issue an injunction that would shut down the school's cadaver program until safeguards are put into place.
In their lawsuit, family members said they had signed contracts by university officials, guaranteeing their decedents' remains would "never" be sold. They also noted that the practice violates California law.
This is not the first time UCLA's cadaver program has been under investigation.
Ten years ago, it was accused of mixing medical waste and animal remains with the ashes of human donors -- then disposing of them in a garbage dump, according to the suit.
At that time, according to the suit, UCLA was informing donors and family members that the remains of their loved ones were being cremated and disposed of in a "dignified" manner.
In 1994, the school entered a settlement agreement with the California Department of Health Services.
It was in 1996 that Reid was named director of the Willed Body Program, a year after relatives of cadaver donors sued the university for allegedly failing to properly dispose of their remains.
At the time, UCLA promised that proper oversight, policies and safeguards were put in place, and that donors and family members could rest assured that donated bodies would be properly handled, according to the suit.
Shirley Williams, whose husband Richard died of a stroke two years ago, was assured by UCLA officials that her husband's remains would be used in medical research, cremated and returned to her. Instead, Williams, the lead plaintiff in the civil suit, fears that his body parts were sold for profit.
"My husband and I decided to give our bodies to the will program with every confidence that things would be done properly, and now I find out that my husband's ashes were thrown into a rose garden and I don't even know where it is."
Raymond Boucher, an attorney for Williams, believes that as many as 800 corpses may have been mishandled since Reid took over the program.
"The first time it happened, it was reprehensible, but less than four years after our first lawsuit was filed in 1996, we learned that UCLA has been selling body parts, which is absolutely criminal and a violation of everything that everybody ever expected who donated their bodies."
Williams, who attended UCLA, has decided against donating her body to the university and wants the cadaver program shut down.
"It's a devastating thing to have happened to me. You feel like you've been kicked in the stomach -- first you lose your loved one and then you lose everything else," said Williams.
CNN Producer Stan Wilson contributed to this report.
