OCEANSIDE -- A former employee at Eternal Hills Cemetery & Mortuary has filed a lawsuit accusing the mortuary of double-selling plots because of shoddy record-keeping, permitting employees to look at bodies after "horrendous accidents" and other troublesome practices.

An attorney for Eternal Hills said it vigorously disputes the allegations. And a spokesman for a state regulatory agency said Tuesday it has received no complaints about such problems at Eternal Hills.

The cemetery is the largest in North County. It is owned by SCI California Funeral Services Inc., a subsidiary of Houston-based Service Corp. International, which owns and operates more than 1,300 funeral homes and 350 cemeteries.

The employee, Angela Maney-Sorrell, sued the company in October, alleging she was demoted in retaliation for pointing out problems during her 21 years at Eternal Hills.

Maney-Sorrell's lawsuit says she was suspended in summer 2007 and "company documents" indicated she would lose her position as a family services supervisor and be reassigned to a sales job elsewhere in San Diego County. She subsequently went on disability.

Her husband also worked at Eternal Hills, but he is no longer with the company.

Steven Gurnee, a Roseville attorney representing Eternal Hills, said Tuesday that Maney-Sorrell is "a former employee who is obviously disgruntled, and she has said some things that are patently untrue."

Maney-Sorrell declined to discuss the case, referring questions to her attorney. Her lawsuit lists more than a dozen "deceptive practices" she claims took place at Eternal Hills, including:

- selling plots to illegal immigrants in an area intended for military families;

- moving cremated remains without obtaining signatures of survivors;

- double-selling of plots "on numerous occasions;"

- selling premium packages to families without providing the promised goods and services, and;

- permitting employees to enter the preparation area to view people who had committed suicide or died in horrible accidents.

"Apparently they would go ahead and say 'We've got a really ugly corpse in here, come on in and look at it,'" said Michael Crosby, Maney-Sorrell's attorney. "She found that profoundly disrespectful. And when she complained about it, nothing was done."

Most incidents alleged in the complaint are described only in vague terms.

Deborah Allen, general manager at Eternal Hills, declined to talk about the case. She referred questions to Service Corp.'s attorneys.

Eternal Hills sits on the rolling hills near Oceanside's Fire Mountain neighborhood. It is around 60 years old.

Last winter, after months of community debate, the City Council approved a plan to expand the cemetery by 18 acres, adding 17,800 burial plots.

In California, cemeteries are regulated by the state Department of Consumer Affairs' Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. There have been two complaints against Eternal Hills in recent years, but neither had merit, said department spokesman Russ Heimerich.

Told of Maney-Sorrell's lawsuit, Heimerich said "there haven't been any complaints alleging these kinds of nefarious things going on." Heimerich said.

The cemetery was last cited in 2002 for missing a deadline to file an endowment report, but that's not uncommon, Heimerich said.

Service Corp. has had problems at other locations. In 2003, the company agreed to pay $100 million to families who sued over misplaced remains at two cemeteries in Florida.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 901-4062 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.