Multiple family members have filed a civil lawsuit against the former Pueblo County Coroner Brian Cotter and associates.

The complaint, which was filed in a Pueblo County civil court Thursday, comes before criminal charges have been filed against Brian Cotter and his brother, Chris Cotter, who ran and operated the Davis Mortuary in Pueblo. The case is still under investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. It’s expected to take months before charges will be filed.

The mortuary became the center of a CBI investigation after 24 bodies were discovered behind a hidden door after the Department of Regulatory Agencies inspected the building in August. The complaint was filed by seven family members of victims allegedly found inside the mortuary.

The defendants, according to reporting from Gazette news partner KOAA, in the case are:

• Cotter family funeral services
• Davis mortuary, inc.
• Davis mortuary
• Davis crematory
• The Cotter Family’s Davis Mortuary
• Pueblo Masonic Temple Annex Association, Inc
• Pueblo Masonic Temple Association
• Brian cotter
• Chris cotter

The suit is asking for a trial by jury for all the plaintiffs’ claims. Among these are the complaints that the smell of decaying bodies, which had been in the mortuary for nearly 15 years, should have been noticeable and reported.

The building, which is also a Masonic Temple, was run by Brian Cotter for some time, as the complaint states he was the president of the Masonic Temple from 2009-2010.

The lawsuit alleges Medicaid fraud, stating that Brian and Chris Cotter accepted Medicaid payments for the transportation of and cremation services rendered to one person whose remains were found during the August inspection.

The lawsuit suit also alleged that Brian and Chris Cotter would give families fake remains that were actually concrete, and the discovery of an infant’s remains discarded in a box, where the other 23 bodies were also found.

The infant whom KOAA is choosing not to identify right now out of privacy for the family had allegedly been in the mortuary for 13 years since the child’s birth in 2012.

Davis Mortuary voluntarily surrendered its license to operate in Colorado on Oct. 17. Brian Cotter resigned as coroner in late August.

Click here for more from koaa.com.